The ignore folder feature is not working.

[rjclardy]

I can confirm that I'm seeing the same behavior that @cabreu described: ignored folders don't get synced BUT the dropbox app continues to monitor them anyway and performs some level of processing whenever files are added/removed/edited from inside ignored folders 😩

Unfortunately this all but defeats the purpose of an "ignore" feature for many of us. We need dropbox to truly ignore (i.e. do not react to changes within) certain folders to preserve system resources.

[teadrinker]

Hello Megan!
Yes, I just updated the app.

I am Using:

Set-Content -Path Library\ -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1

(I've tried both relative and full 'quoted' paths, and with and without trailing backslash. I also tried :com.dropbox.ignored and user.com.dropbox.ignored etc)

Again, ignore feature works on files, but not directories.

[Megan]

Thank you for your speedy reply, @teadrinker!

Would it be okay for me to reach out via email in order for us to have a look? 
 

[teadrinker]

Sure! there is a ticket already: 15924600

[Megan]

Thank you for the ticket number reference, @teadrinker!

I can see that your case has been sent to our Specialized agents in order for them to investigate. 

Hold tight, and they should reply back to you soon, letting you know more about the next steps you'd need to take. 

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to let me know.

[darius00klokj]

Not sure if you still have this issue, but for those using Dropbox and Git repos, you can init outside of the project folder using:

git init --separate-git-dir /outside/of/dropbox/mygit-project.git

Hope it helps 

[aplowman]

What worked for me was adding an asterisk after the directory name:

Set-Content -Path Library\* -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1

[jamievicary]

I still have this issue. Is there an update? Looks like this has been a problem for years now.

[Dragorion]

---

@teadrinker wrote:

I'm having an issue on windows 10, files can be ignored, but not folders. 
I tried running as admin, both relative and full paths, and with and without trailing backslash
For folders, I always get this error:

Set-Content : Could not open the alternate data stream 'com.dropbox.ignored'

+ Set-Content -Path Library -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-Content], FileNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileNotFoundException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand

---

I had this issue for folders with the 'R' attribute (which they have, for example, when they were configured to show a custom icon).

The solution is to 1. unset 'R', 2. ignore directory, and 3. reset 'R'.

I created a .bat file for execution in such folders that I want to be ignored by Dropbox:

attrib -r "%cd%"
powershell -command "Set-Content -Path \"%cd%\" -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1"
attrib +r "%cd%"
pause

And to unignore:

attrib -r "%cd%"
powershell -command "Clear-Content -Path \"%cd%\" -Stream com.dropbox.ignored"
attrib +r "%cd%"
pause

[Megan]

Hey @jamievicary, I hope you're doing well!

Just to make sure we're on the same page here: are these the steps you follow on your end when trying to ignore a file/folder? 

Do you have any problems or come across any errors when trying them out?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!