Dropbox App on Linux - must all files sync & swamp my hard drive?

[donheff]

This is a very basic question but I am not sure of the answer after reading various FAQs.  I have installed the Dropbox app on a Linux desktop (Kbuntu) and a Linux laptop (Ubuntu).   Both computers were converted to Linux because they have limited resources, including disk space.  In both cases I could not set Dropbox to only sync the few files I need to have available on the linux boxes.  Dropbox insisted on downloading 500 GB of data swamping my hard drives.  Am I just stuck with this on Linux or is there a simple setting I am failing to understand?  I use a couple of Dropbox files as master files that are accessed and written too by apps on Windows and IOS.  I want to do the same on Linux, but I don't want everything else downloading.

[Mark · Accepted solution]

Have you followed the instructions from https://help.dropbox.com/sync/selective-sync-overview ?

[donheff]

Thank you Mark.  I have chatted with Dropbox numerous times and no one pointed this feature out before.  It may work for the most critical files I need although I will have to change how I have things organized on Dropbox.  The explanatory page distinguishes this from making files online only which I would prefer to use but that feature is apparently not available in Linux.  That seems strange to me since it is available to Mac users and the Mac OS is based on BSD and compliant with Unix standards.  If Dropbox can handle that, Linux should be possible too.

[donheff]

Hi again Mark.  Before I explore the selective sync function I wanted to check on a possible simple solution.  The file I most need to have access to is not in a subfolder in Dropbox, it is in the Dropbox folder itself along with the subfolders.  There are other files I keep there as well but they don't add up to a significant limitation.  If I simply check of the subfolders so they don't sync, will this group of files at the top level sync?

[Здравко]

---

@donheff wrote:

...  The file I most need to have access to is not in a subfolder in Dropbox, it is in the Dropbox folder itself along with the subfolders.  ...  If I simply check of the subfolders so they don't sync, will this group of files at the top level sync?

---

Hi @donheff,

Yes, for sure. 🙋 Even more - there is no way to disable top level files to sync using Selective sync.

Hope this helps.

[donheff]

Once I straightened out a few files, that worked perfectly.  Thanks