Syncing issues on a new Apple MacBook Air - "syncing is paused while a file in this folder is open"

[ProfCJJ]

Hi

I have setup my new Mac and setup dropbox and the app has been synchronising for days - it has 1,200,000+ files left to sync and seems to be stuck.

Looking at "sync issues" there appear to be a dozen or so "syncing is paused while a file in this folder is open. Close the program using this file" errors. The files and folders in question are not being used by me and are not open. 

I am stuck - I need my files to synchronise so that I can get back to work - any help please?

I am on a MacBook Air M2 2023 running Ventura 13.6.3 - I have Dropbox Personal with 2TB of space of which in 1TB is used.

Thanks

Christopher

[Nancy]

Welcome to our Community, @ProfCJJ!

From what you mention, it seems that there’s a very large amount of files trying to sync to the Dropbox app, which is most likely why you’re facing this issue. 

In general, it’s not recommended to sync locally more than 300k at a time, as this may cause performance issues on the app.

Instead, you can try using selective sync and remove any large folders you don’t need to have locally synced, so that we can exclude this as a cause. 

Let me know if that seems to help.

[ProfCJJ]

Thanks for the response. I understand what you are saying - the dropbox folder sits on an external SSD drive so when I moved to new Mac I just plugged it into the new Mac so almost all files (barring probably about 50 files) are already on the drive - but clearly dropbox still needs to synchronise.

I will try and see if I reduce the folders to just a few to see what happens ... however, what about the "sync issues" I pointed out? would they be stopping the sync process? the message given implies that it has?

Cheers

Christopher

[Jay]

Hi @ProfCJJ, could you test to see if syncing has stopped entirely by creating a test file and adding it into your Dropbox folder, as well as uploading a differently named file to the site directly, and let me know if both files synced?

[ProfCJJ]

OK I have done the following:

1. Paused syncing

2. Enabled only one subfolder to sync (it has 4GB of data but only about 400+ files).

3. Restarted syncing and then Quit and restarted the Dropbox app for good measure.

Following this dropbox still says "syncing 1,150,000+ files".

I then:

4. Created a file in the dropbox folder locally 

5. Created another (different) file in the dropbox folder online (same folder as above).

6. I quit and restarted Dropbox app for good measure.

Dropbox restarted with 1,150,000+ files "syncing"  and the two files created in 4 & 5 above has not synced.

Incidentally, there are now "No sync issues" indicated on the menu.

EDIT: the 15 or so Sync issues are back as before - same files/folders too

The "Activity" and "Sync History" tabs show files from 13/ 9 days ago.

So - no improvement.

Cheers

Christopher

[Hannah]

Hey @ProfCJJ, sorry to jump in here as well.

Can you let us know a bit more about how you set up Dropbox to sync the Dropbox folder in your external drive?

Also, which version of the Dropbox app are you using?

[ProfCJJ]

Hi

I am using Dropbox App V189.4.8395

I installed Dropbox on the new Mac then pointed the App to the Dropbox folder on the external SSD drive (I have done this before with my previous Mac).

I have checked the "Sync Issues" and it turns out that it s complaining about folders/ files that have been shared with others. I went through each in Dropbox ONLINE and revoked sharing ...the Sync Issues still persist however. I had to do this online as some of the folders do not yet exist yet on the Mac.

HTH

[Hannah]

Can you please send us a screenshot of this error, so we can have a visual as well?

[ProfCJJ]

Spoiler

[Jay]

Do you have any other programs or services that are currently running which could be trying to access these folders? 

Could you try quitting all open apps from the menu bar and dock, including Dropbox, and then just start up the Dropbox app to see if the files sync.