Urgent: Syncing wrong direction!

[JoeJenny F.]

Problem: Dropbox was not syncing. It was stuck on Indexing at 307 files. Comparing files on my laptop to files on Dropbox.com, it appears that it has not synced properly for many months.

Solution produces new problem: Following helpful advice, I did many things, including updating/reinstalling the app on the laptop, restarting laptop, checking permissions, fixing hardlinks etc. Then in one conversation one of the Dropbox staff suggested logging out of the app, then logging back in. I did that and suddenly it is reindexing all 100,000+ files in the Dropbox folder on my laptop. Problem/potential disaster: It appears to be taking the online collection of files as correct, and downloading the files from the online versions. If this is true, it would wipe out months of work. 

Am I understanding this right? Or will it sync the latest versions of the files, file structure, and folders from my laptop to the online version?

Mac OS 13.4
Dropbox 192.4.4605

[Pikamander2]

If there have been syncing issues, then Dropbox may have trouble determining which versions of the files are the correct ones. Depending on how many file conflicts there are, you may have to fix it by hand.

I would recommend pausing the syncing process and making an external backup of all the files in question, at which point you can let Dropbox finish syncing and then replace any incorrect files with the newer ones. You may also be able to use the version history feature for some file types.