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Forum Discussion
Can't understand the meaning of the Dropbox icon in the finder and it doesn't sync.
My system info
HW: Apple M1 Pro
OS: Ventura 13.5 (22G74)
Dropbox ver: v180.3.4837 & joined beta
Dropbox beta has an incomprehensible behavior when using the file provider feature on macOS.
As shown in the finder screenshot below, I have set "Make available offline" except for a few folders. However, the cloud with arrow icon(next to the dropbox icon) is "not downloaded" and the dropbox status in the menubar is "your files are up to date".
Doesn't "make available offline" mean that all files are accessible offline on my macbook? But what does "not downloaded" mean?
No matter how long I waited, the "your files are up to date" status didn't change, so I finally clicked on the cloud icon in the finder to actually download the files. After that, the dropbox status didn't change even after hours of waiting in "syncing..." as shown in the screenshot below.
The previous article described the icons you would see in Finder.
- The green sync icon means the file is available offline
- No icon means it's 'available'. This means you doubleclicked it to open, and it's stored on your computer. However, if you're low on hard drive space, the Mac OS will delete the local copy to free up space
- Cloud icon with a down arrow means it's online-only.
- This would only apply to entire folders. Individual files won't have two icons at the same time.
Dropbox's support page tells me to
4. Right-click the file or folder and select Make available offline.
5. Wait a few minutes while the file or folder updates. A file or folder is available offline once you see it has a
solid green checkmark next to it. Learn about the different sync icons and what they mean.And I do. I select "Make available offline" and I definitely get a solid green checkmark but I also get a grey cloud symbol and I know that that file has definitely not been made available and has no intention of doing so.
these two things are not the same
Dropbox even helpfully tells me it's all good.
are they?
I am running the latest stable version: V187.4.5691
I am running Sonoma 14.1.1
I am on a paid account.
I am on an M1 MacBook Pro
I have 2TB of space free.
I have nothing blocking dropbox and the bandwidth is set to unlimited.
Finally, if I try to open a file that has a green check mark and a grey cloud icon next to it it *will* actually download the file from the cloud. Even previewing the file will get dropbox to download it.
Double click to actually download.
So what's going on? I know Dropbox is going to blame Apple's new API and it's also possible I've done something wrong here but surely, even if they can't do it, they shouldn't be showing the cloud icon next to the green tick.
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey James V.1, thanks for reaching out to our Community.
I've moved your post to a similar thread, that should give you more info on the situation.
That said, we do appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback on the syncing icons and I'll make sure to pass your comments along to our team.
- Jay
Hi suibom, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
For the folders that have both a green icon and a cloud icon with a down arrow, this means that there is at least one online-only file in the folder. There can also be files that are “available” and/or “available offline” in the folder.
If you open the folder in question after marking it as available offline, so you see any files syncing down to the machine?
This will help me to assist further!
First off, thanks for the reply.
I'm just writing this after changing my Dropbox/Movies directory with "Make avialable offline", and dropbox is in "syncing x files..." status.
As for the icon in the finder, do I understand it as follows?
1. the "dropbox icon" in the finder: this is dropbox's "goal", i.e. the state it wants to be available offline, and does not mean it is currently available offline.
2. if there's no icon in place of the dropbox icon in the finder, it's only available online.
3. cloud icon in finder: an arrow down icon means it's downloading, no icon means it's "actually" downloaded.
4. the user can only assume that "real" offline access is available when the dropbox icon is offline available and the cloud icon is gone.Does this make sense?
- Jay
The previous article described the icons you would see in Finder.
- The green sync icon means the file is available offline
- No icon means it's 'available'. This means you doubleclicked it to open, and it's stored on your computer. However, if you're low on hard drive space, the Mac OS will delete the local copy to free up space
- Cloud icon with a down arrow means it's online-only.
- This would only apply to entire folders. Individual files won't have two icons at the same time.
