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Forum Discussion
Folders made available offline were not downloaded
Hi,
This weekend I thought I'd test the Dropbox Available Offline feature by storing travel documents there. On my PC I created a new folder and populated it with some PDFs. On the Dropbox app on my Pixel (Android) phone I enabled Available Online for the folder and viewed the PDFs in it with no problem. The next day while in a theater waiting for a show to start I verified that I had no phone connectivity and was not connected to any WiFi. When I tried to view the folder containing the new folder the new folder was marked with an exclamation point in a yellow circle. When I entered the folder all the individual PDFs were similarly marked and could not be viewed. That persisted for some time. Later when I was outside and had phone coverage but not WiFi connectivity I checked the folder again again and saw that the yellow exclamation points were slowing changing to green phone icons, and that PDFs with the green icon could be viewed.
Luckily I had paper documents. If I hadn't carried backups I could have been in trouble.
I thought that folders marked as Available Online could be accessed anytime with no connectivity, but Dropbox doesn't do that. Is my understanding correct? Is phone connectivity required? If not is it common for this feature to be unreliable or malfunction? Can this feature be relied on or should I choose a different mechanism?
Thanks,
Mike
NorahDropbox Staff
- Noah,I'm still confused. First, there's only been one version of any of these documents. I viewed several but not all of the documents at home. Also I was home for over 24 hours before leaving on the trip using my phone and connected to a good WiFi connection. When I left I'm sure that some of the documents were available and I'm sure that there was adequate bandwidth and time to have downloaded all of them. When I viewed some of the documents later when traveling the only reasonable explanation I can think of is that I viewed a different document than what I viewed at home and that Dropbox hadn't been trying to download the documents that I had not previously viewed.If that thinking is correct then it appears that to ensure that this feature works reliably I need to view each document after I mark it as Available Offline. You mention tapping the Update All button on Android, which I assume would do the same thing.I just Googled and found a description of the feature here: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/access-files-offline . Under the Android section is says:"Specifically, making a file available offline:...Saves the file to your Android device for offline viewing within DropboxAttempts to keep the file as up-to-date as possible and gives you the option to update the file manuallyEnsures that any changes you make to the file while offline will be synced to your Dropbox account once you have a connection again"So to me it seems like Dropbox isn't doing these things. Do agree that the documentation and behavior don't agree? If so maybe I'll send Dropbox a problem report, unless you tell me that I'm doing that right now.Thanks,Mike
- Minato
Hey MikeA01730,
This issue seem that requires some additional investigation.
Can you create a ticket so we can investigate and ask for information best not shared in a public enviroment?
After you create the ticket, let me know of the ticket number.
Thank you in advance!
- I'm not understanding when you say a newer version of the folder I have the same files did I use all the time I never change them sometimes they are available other places that I use them you're not available and I don't do anything to my iPad
- Jane
This issue remains unsolved, correct. I have had the problem for years. I sync files for offline use. They are accessible offline for a few days and then suddenly I get the yellow exclamation point and they are no longer accessbile until I get internet access again and the "green" down arrow icon replaces the yellow exclamation point, meaning that the files are accessible offline again.
These are picture files that have remained untouched in folders on Dropbox FOR YEARS. I don't understand why I keep losing the ability to access them offline.
Help?
The Dropbox team's failure to fix this problem over the last few years is nothing short of disgraceful. If anyone in development is actually listening, you should be ashamed.
P.S. Please don't send me yet another banal reply assuring me how much you appreciate my input, etc, etc. Just get the problem escalated to the right manager and fix it.
Terry, UK
