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.

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey there (Amy P.5) & (User4759), sorry to hear that your feeling this way & I appreciate the time you devoted in detailing us your thoughts. Since we’re always aiming to provide you the best support possible, I understand that you still need assistance & I’m here to drive this conversation to a productive outcome.
 
Following your comment here, I ran a search on my end, I’ve located your latest open request on our system & I can see that it’s already reached our specialists’ inbox, so you may expect a reply from them on that email chain soon. I’ve also included a copy of your comments there & I’ve increased your support priority internally, so you may expect a reply on the matter soon.
 
When it comes to your inquiry (User4759), I reviewed our discussion back in July & I can see the last time I touch-based with you I was expecting an update on your end (i.e. I could see that I was also exploring your reports at that point, in order to understand where the issue lies). In any event, I’m reaching back out to you as I’m following this conversation closely & I’d like to echo my previous posts that I’m gathering all relevant reports for further review. Would it be okay if I sent you a brief message on the email address connected to your Forum profile, in order to investigate the behavior in a bit more depth? 
 
Thanks to both for sticking with me & I’m looking forward to seeing your next updates or thoughts!
User4759's avatar
User4759
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Yeah, you kept telling me that if I completely turned off SmartSync, the files wouldn't show locally and then we could test whether they loaded correctly or not. But when I tried turning it off, following your instructions to the letter, nothing changed. The files still showed locally even though they definitely weren't on my hard drive. At that point, it did what it always does - quick look worked for a few minutes, and then I had to reset it every 5-6 times I used it. Which meant quite a few times an hour when I'm working.

Either Dropbox doesn't know how its own product works on Mac, or they're just not interested in providing support. Either way, I don't have time for endless troubleshooting that I sensed was just going to end like every other conversation on this forum: blaming the Mac OS. So I removed Dropbox completely. Now I'm saving lots of money, my computer runs much better, and my workflow is much faster. 

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!