Dropbox macOS Beta (fileproviderd based Dropbox) is an absolute nightmare!

[mwdiers]

I made the mistake of opting in to the Dropbox beta which is based on macOS fileproviderd integration, which the update notice insisted was perfectly safe. It is anything but. For the record, I am on an M1 Max laptop, running Monterey.

This is a disaster. Things seemed to be fine. I had every folder set for offline access, which worked fine for a while. Then today, after a reboot, I lost offline access to the entire Dropbox folder. The files were just gone, and had to be downloaded from scratch.

Despite having everything marked as "make files available offline", Dropbox decided there were no local files at all. Even my sidebar shortcuts to folders in my Dropbox disappeared.

I lost days of work. For whatever reason, any files updated in the last few days were not synced. After the reboot, the new offline versions of those updated files that had not synced (Logic Pro X projects in this case) disappeared, and the only available files were the older online versions. New files were simply missing. Poof, gone! I verified this by checking my Dropbox on the web. Only the old versions of those files were there. None of the new files.

I've had it. I've used Dropbox for years. But now I cannot trust it to do the most basic thing: DON'T DELETE MY DATA!!!! I have always been skeptical about the just-in-time offline file sync. I never trusted it. That's why I marked everything for offline use. But Dropbox, in their infinite wisdom, has removed a universal setting for this. I just had to trust that by marking every folder as offline, my data would remain local. My skepticism was well placed.

I THINK I have a valid Time Machine backup on my Synology. Let's hope this new Cloud location is not excluded from that backup. Otherwise I'm completely screwed.

Regardless, you have lost a customer. I'm not coming back.

[morandd]

Two days so far for me.

What terrible performance. Visiting 150GB on an M1 Ultra should take seconds, not days. Someone's "Indexing" code was obviously NOT tested.

How did Dropbox let this "beta" out. It's a catastrophe. We cannot loose 2-3 days of work due to Dropbox not syncing.

[ilya1]

After 5 days, it appears that now everything is OK. And in it's place.

Resuming, The betta apparently will take between 2/5 days to indexing and sync all your data. For reference I have 50% of 2TB used.  Many many videos and pictures due my business. Took 4 days for me more or less.

Dropbox should add that general time so people do not panic. and take measures. I always have access to my files on my  iPad, iPhone  , but not on my computer, which for me its way more important . 

Everything is resolve now/ I think that is why its call BETA, right? 

[Ovi A.1]

Hi @Megan ,

My syncing status is just showing "Indexing"; most of my synced files show a :cloud: beside them, which means online only and not offline, I believe.

However, most of my files are actually on my (main) computer anyway, making the :cloud: symbol, in this case, meaningless.

BTW, Dropbox is still "Indexing".

I've paused syncing, and what do you know? My computer is working fine right now, and my Bluetooth is no longer cutting out. 

Maybe, I should just remove Dropbox and cancel my subscription. Seems like the best alternative right now 🤔.

[Nancy]

Sorry for jumping in, @Ovi A.1. 

Can you please send a few more details on the online-only files that are still taking up space from your hard drive? 

If possible, I’d like you to send a screenshot of the syncing icon you see next to them, as well as one more of their actual size. More specifically, I’d like you to right click on one of the online-only folders/files and go to “Get info” after that. Please upload a screenshot of the next window that will appear. 

Thanks a lot!

[ilya1]

Whit the new betta version, and after a week of nightmare waiting for all my files to index, now I found out that I can not open ANY PDF FILES on my computer, from dropbox

All the files are changed to "open with Dropbox" by default, and even when I change it to acrobat, set it as default, restart the computer, nothing happens, I have to manually change them to acrobat, to be able to opening them

This is so frustraiting, I am seriusly thinking on migrating to OneDrive after all this betta debacle . 

[ilya1]

Well , now another problem

Drobbox change the defaul adobe acrobat pdf file open , to DROPBOX. and no matter what I do, Every single files need to be change individually to acrobat defaul in order to be openned. Doesnt matter if I have it by defaul , it change them to open with dropbox by defaul again

Change setting, restart the computer, nothing works

Can someone help me remove the **bleep**ing beta and go back to the old version please, i definitly moving everything to onedrive. I am really dissapointed and have lost hours of work with the "beta" version 

[ilya1]

And this is the screen shot 

[ilya1]

How you can leave the beta ? can you explain please, I keep having problems and I have lost hours of work on this 

[Jay]

Hi @ilya1, what happens if you choose that option for all PDF files to be associated with Adobe? Does the message appear again in the future?

[ilya1]

Yes, all the time, every single file on my Dropbox it set do default open with dropbox , .doc, jog. pdf, and every time I change to the correct extension only works one, yes even when the message appear that will be. applied to all files, 

I uninstall dropbox beta and re installed the normal version and still doesn not work

I just spend the last 10 days figthing with this stupid app. Moving everyting to other provider now . I rather spend my time and money moving away from drobox . A total dissapointment