You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
johnrinek
3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Syncing icons on the files in the Dropbox folder have changed
Hello The Finder Extension Icons indicating whether a file or folder is Online Only or Available Offline are showing up in my Finder, however, the statuses are incorrect. For instance a folder that ...
Rua
Dropbox Staff
Hi everyone,
Thank you for the feedback. It’s helpful for us to understand how this change impacts your workflows.
We acknowledge that what the sync icons mean, for folders in particular, is the main source of confusion and frustration for many people in this thread. We want to assure you that our Product and Design teams hear your feedback.
Why did we make this change?
This change aligns with updated Windows and macOS design patterns, UI guidelines and security best practices.
Additionally, online-only files will become commonplace for most Dropbox app users. If extra space is required on your hard drive, the Dropbox desktop app or the OS may automatically convert your files to online-only. For this reason, we thought it would be important for users to quickly identify which files may automatically become online-only. In other words, files that are available offline will never be moved automatically by our app or the OS to online-only. Files in an available state can be automatically moved to online-only if you are running out of hard drive space.
What do the icons mean?
However, let’s look more in depth into what the sync icons mean for folders:
Available offline
This means that all the files/folders contained within the folder:
- have the state available offline
- are stored on your PC/Mac and on dropbox.com
- are fully synced
- cannot be moved automatically to online-only (of course you can manually make the folder online-only)
Available
This means that:
- at least 1 file/folder contained within the folder has the available state
- there are 0 files/folders contained within the folder that have the online-only state
- files/folders within the folder can have the available offline state
- files/folders within the folder are stored on PC/Mac and on dropbox.com
- files/folders within the folder are fully synced
- depending on state, files can be automatically moved to online-only if you are running out of hard drive space
Online-only
This means that:
- at least 1 file/folder contained within the folder has the online-only state
- files/folders within the folder can have the available offline or available state
- files/folders within the folder are fully synced
- depending on state, files can be automatically moved to online-only if required
Thanks again for your feedback on this.
ppadmin
3 years agoCollaborator | Level 8
And we acknowledge that what the sync icons mean, and we're saying is that this was a completely unnecessary, useless, not completely though out change that does noting to improve the usability of the service, and in fact makes it more confusing and less intuitive. Sometimes the Product and Design teams get it wrong. Can they just take the L on this one and change it back?
- William F.53 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Here's the latest reply from Dropbox:
Dear customer,
Are you an idiot? The new system could not be simpler.
A green icon means A, B, C, or D. And sometimes E.
A gray icon means F, G, or H. Except when it means I. (Please see attached schedule of icons for additional details.)
A white icon means J, K, L, or M. Basically, it's for folders that are a mixture of online and offline. Except sometimes white icons are arbitrarily attached to individual files. This means either that the file itself is a mixture of online and offline, or that it was synced using a different means than a file with a green icon. If you synced your file over Wifi, it will appear green; if you used LAN, then it will be white. (This may vary depending on your OS, so please see attached schedule.)
Like I said, the system is staggeringly simple, and you are a pathetic dolt for not understanding it. If you were smarter, you would like the new system.
To follow up with customer service, please navigate our nonexistent customer service page.
Sincerely,
Dropbox - William F.53 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Actually, it's even more complicated that this, because I have FOLDERS that consist entirely of local files but for some reason have a white icon.
- ppadmin3 years agoCollaborator | Level 8
William F.5 Ummm, did you even look at the icon reference sheet? Everyone knows that means the folder synced on a Monday. Come on, be smarter.
- arigoldfilms3 years agoCollaborator | Level 10The callous disregard for the customer is truly staggering. Because of having an entire team on Dropbox, I am sluggish in moving our whole business elsewhere until the end of the year, but I look forward to people sharing their notes about which services they recommend. Has everyone going public with their complaints to dropbox and @dropboxbusiness and @dropboxsupport and ceo drewhouston on Twitter as well?
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