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

Andrew-RFLB's avatar
Andrew-RFLB
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago

Smart Sync and Quick Preview on Mac

Smart Sync causes my quick preview function (spacebar) to not function properly on my Mac. I can't preview thumbnails, or quick preview any videos or photos. Any ideas why this happens?
desktop
Mac
Setting up the apps
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    8 years ago

    Likely because you're trying to preview a file that doesn't exist on your computer.

     

    When you set a file to Online Only, the only thing that's left of that file on your computer is the necessary information to make it appear in the folder. Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it.

     

    Remember, when you set a file to Online Only, the file is removed from the computer leaving behind only a marker file. In order to access that file, whether it be to open and edit it or simply preview it, the file needs to be on the computer (Smart Sync doesn't allow you to open files directly from the Dropbox servers). When you open a file, it's synced back to your local drive and then opened as normal. When you're done with the file, if you want it to be online-only again, you need to mark it as such.

Ckrupinsky's avatar
Ckrupinsky
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago

Did you happen to find a work around for this?

  • CNowell's avatar
    CNowell
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Ckrupinsky No workaround that was shared with me in my last round of support emails, but spoke with Tony at support and this was the response I received (I've condensed this for the sake of brevity): 

     

    "The team was already aware that the problem was with Smart Sync, and they understood what you meant. I can assure you they are looking into the issue, but there's not much more you and I can do at the moment."

     

    So I guess my question is, why hasn't this been addressed as a "Known Bug" on the Support home (this thread's been open for months...)? Hopefully we hear something soon.

     

    While I would love to keep updating this thread, I have a funny feeling it's being ignored due to it being labeled as "solved?" Probably best for everyone here to start a new thread specifically detailing their problem in hopes that enough commotion will kick start a fix. Even better— create that new forum thread and post a link to that new thread here to further connect the problem.

  • User4759's avatar
    User4759
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    I've just resigned myself to resetting QuickLook through Terminal several times per working session. 

    • Rod2's avatar
      Rod2
      Helpful | Level 5
      7 years ago

      I'm having the exact same problems described. Any solutions yet???

       

      My workaround has been relaunching Finder multiple times a day. Very annoying!

      • Jane's avatar
        Jane
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        Hey Ckrupinsky & Rod2, I appreciate the time you took to post us on this matter! 
         
        At this point, let me re-iterate Rich’s point on the first page that Online Only files leave behind only a marker file containing just the necessary information to make it appear in the folder, which doesn’t have any content. (Ckrupinsky) It’s my understanding that you’ve been experiencing this issue after upgrading your account to Dropbox Professional though, as in all likelihood you’ve utilized the Smart Sync feature after the upgrade. 
         
        I understand that you’re interested in seeing a change in this behavior & I’ve made our team aware of your comments & interest. After further investigation though, the latest update I received is that what you’re seeing is indeed expected & if there was any improvement, it should have been from the OS vendor’s side. 
         
        Apologies if that’s not ideal to you & I hope that this brings some more clarity to your initial query. Of course, I’m always here if you’d like to further discuss it, so please keep me updated on this thread, as I’ve gathered all relevant comments from different threads here. Thanks! 

About Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!