Adobe not downloading online only files from projects

[TBirds]

Hi All,

 after updating to MacOS 12.3 I have not been able to open project files (Premiere/After Effects) without errors of not finding files that are in dropbox as 'online only'. Prior to the Mac update all files would auto download to be on my machine locally. I know there's an issue with full support for OS 12.3... any updates or solutions folks have found?

thanks 

[TBirds]

It's actually gotten worse.

Now just double clicking MS Word docs in finder give me an error and wont open (giving an error 'cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.'). 

I have to right click and then select 'make available offline' 

Plus for some reason dropbox is now the default program to open anything, even when changing that permission to the correct program, it still insists on using dropbox to open the files 

[Konrad_Dobson]

Hello,

We recently upgraded our Macs to macOS 12.3.1 through clean installs and reinstalled Dropbox, but ever since then, Adobe After Effects has become unusable. From what I can gather, Smart Sync is no longer available and we only have online/offline modes, but they no longer automatically open the files our AFX workfiles are linking to. Whenever I open an AFX workfile, I get the '86 :: 1' and '3 :: 6' errors that he can't open the source file. All files on the server are 0 bytes (so thinks they're damaged) untill I manually set them to offline mode, which is impossible given the complexity of our workfiles to manually sync each file.

I did come across this: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/macos-12-monterey-support

Could this have something to do with it?

A temporary workaround seems to be to create packages of those workfiles on a Windows PC, then move them locally on our Macs. But that's really no long term viable solution. Is there an update expected that will address this? Or fix anyone is aware of? We'd really appreciate it. Prior to this everything worked fine ...

[Walter]

Hi @Konrad_Dobson, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

As you probably know, we're actively working on full support for macOS 12.3 (Monterey) and higher.

If you choose to update to macOS 12.3, you may notice some issues with opening online-only files in third-party applications -like Adobe After Effects- on your Mac. As a temporary workaround, you can open online-only files directly in Finder.

To make an online-only file available to open in third-party applications:
1. Open your Dropbox folder in Finder.
2. Right-click the file you want to have available.
3. Click Make available offline.

The file will be downloaded within your Dropbox folder and can be opened through any third-party application.

Note: Online-only files have a cloud icon next to them. Once an online-only file has been downloaded in Dropbox, you’ll see the cloud icon change to a green checkmark.

I hope this helps to some extent! 

[Konrad_Dobson]

Thank you, Walter. That solution can help us for a few days. But is there an estimated ETA on a more permanent fix for this?

If it's too long a better solution for us might be re-formatting with an older version of MacOS, correct?

[Konrad_Dobson]

Hi Walter,

Is it possible to download a previous version of Dropbox? And would that solve our problem until a new version is released?

Or is there an idea when this might be solved?

Thank you.

[Walter]

Thanks for the nudge on this @Konrad_Dobson 

I'm afraid I don't have a timeline or any other information to offer here at the moment. 

All I can suggest for now is to make the files you'd like to work on your computer locally available before opening them. 

[smokinghotdog]

I've been experiencing the same problems with the new macOS 12.3.1 update.
Which really is a big obstacle in working flawlessly.

Any 'online only' file that is linked inside an Adobe After Effects project will give an error.
Even when you try to replace that certain file or make it 'local' again, when After Effects is opened.
This was never the case with prior macOS versions.
Because that linked file would automatically be downloaded with Dropbox smart-sync, without any issues.
That functionality was genius.

The only workaround now, is making every 'online-only' file inside that project 'local' first.
Then open that After Effects project. And it works.

What we need back, is that automatic Dropbox function of smart-syncing from online-only to local.

Really hope @Walter (Dropbox Team) can get this fixed soon!
Keep us posted please.

[carriethegreat]

@Walter do you have any updates for us? Appreciate any further information you can provide on making this usable again. Thanks!

[HarvNagra]

It is absurd this hasn't been resolved yet.

Adobe Indesign files point to assets outside of the file, and these can be scattered in a thousand different places on a storage system (referencing files in other projects). To say that you need to Smart Sync EACH of those folders locally / manually rather than Dropbox automatically triggering the download when the INDD file is opened is insane.

Yes, I know Apple is the one that decommissioned the API for this functionality, but Dropbox has had many months to find a workaround to this with no updates on progress. 

[Tori2]

I would love an update on this as well. I've been on the phone constantly with Adobe support and they have been less than helpful. The root of the issue is Dropbox's compatibility with Monterey. I work with a large team of animators and this has brought our workflow to a screeching halt. Syncing files locally rarely fixes the entire issue. It appears all we can do is turn on early access updates in Dropbox and pray that they decide to fix this one day. In the meantime I'll be working to push our creative team to switch to a different service.