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

zephyr707's avatar
zephyr707
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Best practices for using symlinks (symbolic links)

Hi there, I use dropbox on linux with symlinks, but am not sure which is the best/preferred way to use them. Is there a best practice for using this type of configuration? Currently I use symlink...
Create
Desktop
Linux
Sync
  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    6 years ago
    Hey there zephyr707,
     
    I would strongly recommend sticking with the current configuration you currently have, which would be having the actual files in the Dropbox folder and having your symlinks in the home directory. In this case, it wouldn’t have any affect on the files syncing as the actual files are within the Dropbox folder.
     
    Issues occur with syncing when the files are located elsewhere and the symlink is within the Dropbox folder instead. This can cause performance issues and high CPU usage when trying to sync the files. In some cases, the desktop app may even just sync the symlink file itself and not the referenced file. This will mean the actual file won’t be synced to your Dropbox account so you wont be able to access the actual file via the web or other devices your account syncs to.
     
    Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
zephyr707's avatar
zephyr707
Helpful | Level 6

Hi Daphne,

Thanks for your response, sounds like sticking with the current setup definitely makes sense.

Also, while setting up dropbox on a live usb stick, I just discovered another reason for using symlinks pointing into the Dropbox folder. Doing the inverse would likely cause the data from each separate host to clobber the other host's data. With symlinks pointing the Dropbox folder I know have the same data across hosts that I want to share in common, which is pretty useful.

From what you describe, I guess as a best practice it would be advisable to not drop any symlinks into the Dropbox folder at all as it sounds pretty risky. I hope a better solution to dealing with symlinks is developed, but until then it sounds safe to avoid using them in any way within the Dropbox hierarchy structure.

Thanks for your help!

Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
6 years ago
Hey again zephyr707,
 
It seems like you have everything on point there, this set up will for sure be much more stable. I’m glad I could help to clarify the matter with you. :grin:
 
If you have any other questions about this then please don’t hesitate to reach out to me here - Cheers! 
  • zephyr707's avatar
    zephyr707
    Helpful | Level 6
    6 years ago

    Awesome, thanks a lot, Daphne, I feel confident now setting it up this way!

    p.s. the little thumbs up like button doesn't seem to be working for me, but cheers for the help! 

    • Daphne's avatar
      Daphne
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      6 years ago
      I’m happy to hear you’re confident with this moving forward zephyr707!
       
      Hope you have a great weekend!
       
      PS. Thanks for letting me know that little hiccup there with the like button, I’ll have a look into this.
      • niazy's avatar
        niazy
        Helpful | Level 6
        6 years ago

        Hi there,

        I've had this setup (linking my Desktop to the a ~/Dropbox/Desktop for years now. However, I just bought a new Macbook Pro running OS X catalina. Everytime I create the symlink to the Dropbox, it initially works, but then the OS restores what seems like a default folder and deletes the link. 

        Any ideas?

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

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!