I keep seeing conflicted copies for my audio files, after using a third-party software.

[JoelBille]

Hi!

Recently I've been getting problems with duplicate files when I export audio files from my software directly into a Dropbox folder . One of them is labled "conflicted copy", (I think that's the english term, I've got dropbox in swedish where it says "konfliktkopia"). The one that has the original file name only is always incomplete, the end of the audio file is cut.

I've read that "conflicted copy" is something that happens when multiple users are editing the same file. However, I'm the single user on the account and I'm pretty sure I haven't been hacked by someone who consistently exports my audio files the same minute I am. Something seems to happen when I export the files (and thus add them to Dropbox). Like Dropbox thinks it's a new file, while it's still being rendered, and therefore thinks it's a conflict?

I've been using dropbox for years and never had this before. Any ideas on how to solve it?

I'm using a mac with Ventura 13.6.4.

I also have dropbox installed on an iPhone, if that might be causing this somehow.

[Nancy]

Thanks for posting on our Community today, @JoelBille! Hope you’re doing well. 

When saying that the original file is still incomplete, do you mean that the conflicted copy contains the latest updates you’ve made to the file when exporting it from the third-party app? 

About the iPhone you also have linked to your Dropbox account, none of the audio files are open there while you edit them on your computer, correct? 

Finally, can you quit the Dropbox app on your Mac device and reproduce the issue again? Do you still see conflicted copies produced then?

Let me know when you have more info.

[JoelBille]

Hi Nancy!

Yes, the conflicted copy is the "correct" and complete one. I've made no changes between the two versions. I don't know exactly when they appear, I can make some more tests to see when it actually happens. I think it is while the file is still being rendered.

And no, not editing anything on the phone, no technically possible way to do it. I just use the phone app to view and share.

I'll try quitting the app and see what happens, I'll be back with more info.

[JoelBille]

Hi again, sorry for the delay. I havn't had time to look closer at this until today. Quitting the app on the computer does not help, it still happens. I just exported an audio file to look at what happens. The export process takes a minute or two, however the file is visible in finder as soon as the export has started. I noticed that the dropbox update/upload symbol showed next to the file name in finder, the one with a circle/clock getting filled, while the file was still in the process of being exported. However, it works fine and as expected. However, two minutes after the export was completed, the conflicted copy appeared, and the original audio file is now incomplete, it has shorter duration that it should and stops abruptly.

It doesn't seem to be 100% reproducable though, I tried the exact same thing again and this time the conflicted copy has not yet shown.

I have not made any updates to the third party software before this started, nor to my OS.

[Rich]

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@JoelBille wrote:

Quitting the app on the computer does not help, it still happens. ... I noticed that the dropbox update/upload symbol showed next to the file name in finder ...

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Make sure you're quitting the application and that Dropbox is not running, and test it again. Dropbox can't sync files and the sync icons would not be visible if the Dropbox application isn't running.

[JoelBille]

Thank you! You're right, dropbox seems to be running in the background somehow. I do want it to, I've built my workflow around having the dropbox app running so it wouldn't be a solution to quit the app, that would mean stop using dropbox in my case. But it might be useful for diagnostics I suppose.

[JoelBille]

After quitting the app using the menubar, there's still two processes running: DropboxFileProvider and DropboxFileProviderCH. I also see that dropbox updated FileProvider in june, that's probably the change that caused this problem. I've also noticed that I had "Online Only" as default setting for new files, could be that. I tried to change it to "available offline", lets see if that helps.

[Walter]

Hey @JoelBille - thanks for the additional information there. 

Could you clarify how exactly you're exporting these files in the first place? Do you see anything odd in their version history or in your events page? 

[JoelBille]

Hi! I'm exporting the files using Logic Pro,  a software for working with audio. I hit "export" in Logic Pro, choosing a subfolder in my Dropbox on my mac as destination. The process can take a couple of minutes, depending on the complexity of the matieral. This has worked fine for years, until the last couple of weeks/months.

The version history for the file marked "conflicted copy" is:

12.03: File Added by me (Export started)
12.03: File Edited by me (Export still going)

12.03: File Edited by me (Again, export still going)
12.04: File (now with the "conflicted copy" tag added) Added by me.

I will try today with the new settings i mentioned above and see if it still happens. Since it's not 100% reproducable it will take some testing to see if it worked.

[JoelBille]

Nope, it's still happening. Seems to be more prone to happen for larger files, probably because of the longer export time. Really annoying thing, strange that there seems to be no solutions out there.