Syncing icons on the files in the Dropbox folder have changed

[johnrinek]

Hello
The Finder Extension Icons indicating whether a file or folder is Online Only or Available Offline are showing up in my Finder, however, the statuses are incorrect. For instance a folder that contains files that are both Online Only files and Available Offline files is showing a cloud icon, when it should be showing a white circle with a green checkmark and green outline. I think the Finder Extension is confused. Is there a way to reset the Finder Extension so the icons show correctly without changing the Online Only or Available Offline settings that I have for my files/folders? I do not want to change the statuses of my files/folders, I just want the icons to indicate the statuses correctly. Thank you.
Mac 10.14.6
Dropbox 152.4.4880

[FabrizioPan]

You are right.
I dont know if this site is User only... But I hope that someone in dropbox can Read this and Understand that the did a very bad Update this time... and it could be the reason to change service... at least for me, I'm wasting my time looking for Local files and Oflline them. 

[rusdom]

Agreed. If they don't revert back to the previous icon system I might have to find another service for my company to use. 

Yeah, hopefully Dropbox monitors this and takes note. When I contacted Dropbox help, it was them who pointed me to this forum, saying it was monitored by Dropbox and the best way to communicate issues/feature requests. 

[rusdom]

Just for clarity for anyone skimming through... when I reached out to Dropbox support about the icon issue, this was the explanation they gave:

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Dropbox Support Response

---------------------------------

We’ve recently updated our sync icons to give you a more accurate idea of what sync state your files and folders are in.

For example:

• A file with the available offline icon  green background with a white tick) means that the file is downloaded to your PC/Mac. Files in this state have been made available offline by right clicking the file and selecting Make available offline.
• A file with the available icon (  white background with a green tick), means that the file is downloaded to your PC/Mac. Files in this state have been made available by opening the file with a double click or using a 3rd party app.
• A file with the online-only icon (  grey background with a white cloud), means that the file is online-only and is merely a placeholder file which takes up close to zero bytes on your PC/Mac

 
A folder’s sync icon will depend on what files are contained within that folder.

For example:

• If a folder contains at least 1 online-only file then the folder’s sync icon will be online-only 
• If a folder contains zero online-only files and at least 1 available file then its sync icon will be the available icon 
• If a folder contains only available offline files then its sync icon will be available offline 

 ---------------------------------

[rusdom]

There's a longer thread about this issue over here, if anyone is interested to comment there:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Create-upload-and-share/Syncing-icons-on-the-files-in-the-Dropbox-fo...

[cindy t.3]

And THAT's the problem.  The meaning of icons has changed in a way that does NOT tell us anything useful. A cloud for a folder that has a mix of online only and available files is NOT USEFUL. And I thought the mixed status symbol (a folder with available and online only files) was a green line in the white circle with a green rim -- where has that gone??????????????? I actually pay for this program, so expect that changes won't screw it up like this.

[johnrinek]

Thank you for sharing the explanation from Dropbox Support @rusdom

This issue makes more sense now.
However, the new system does not make any sense.

The Old System makes complete sense and it was easy to identify the state of all files and folders:
Cloud = All Files and Folders Online Only
White Circle Green Check = Mixed Online Only and Available Offline
Solid Green Circle White Check = All Files and Folders Available Offline

New System:
1. Having a Cloud Icon on a folder that contains 999 files that are Available Offline and 1 file that is Online Only is not helpful at all and makes no sense.
2. The White Circle Green Check was a great indicator of mixed status files/folders. In the new system, knowing that there are zero Online Only files in these folders is not helpful at all. If there are zero Online Only files, the previously used Solid Green Circle White Check should be used.

[rusdom]

Yeah, the old system was really perfect in the way it solved dropbox's biggest downfall, ie. disk space. That's the one thing people would consistently bring up to me as an excuse not to use Dropbox. But then I'd tell them about smart syncing and the (old) icon system, and that would win them over. That was the same thing that won me over at the start of Covid, and why we went ahead with moving my company's entire production onto Dropbox. The old icons were such a brilliant, simple, elegant system that solved Dropbox's biggest pain point. I don't understand why they'd undo that. They're costing their customers untold hours of extra time and headache.

[Mantas212]

"If a folder contains at least 1 online-only file then the folder’s sync icon will be online-only "

How does that make sense? How is it better for users to see a folder is online-only when the majority of files are downloaded and availble?

Please rollback to the previous system 😞

[William F.5]

Does anyone at Dropbox actually read this forum? This change seems universally despised, but there's no way of knowing whether it will be rolled back or not. I think we would all like to know. If this is a permanent change, I will likely end my subscription and go back to using my free university Box Sync account. Box has plenty of issues of its own, but at least I can understand what the sync icons mean.

[leandrosilva]

@William F.5 I believe Dropbox is already aware of the situation.

The problem might be related with the time necessary to redo this update.

This becomes even more relevant after the announcement two months ago of significant price increases in our business subscriptions during this year.

What surprises me the most is that someone at Dropbox proposed this 'good' idea and the rest of the staff or the people who decide go ahead with it. Nobody inside questioned why, nor the advantage for its users?

Let's make this update because it will improve the user experience and help them do something (which no one can explain)... instead, let's deliver a  'concept version' of what Smart Sync would be.