Dropbox woes - solved

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  • Dropbox woes - solved

    This is not directly related to screenwriting, but indirectly it is, since so many of us use Dropbox.

    It seems that once or twice a year Dropbox goes haywire on one of my computers, and I never can figure out why, though I have always been able to fix things with patience, inspiration, and divine revelation (as one of my medical school professors used to say).

    Today the problem was that the Dropbox "badge" (that funny-looking icon in the system tray) kept the blue portion that it has when it is trying to sync a file with Dropbox. It would not go away.

    So I used Google and found the usual back-and-forth discussion of frustrated people trying to get help from Dropbox people or from anyone. Usually the "solution" gets tried, and then the person writes back to say, "It still does not work."

    Long story short ... I downloaded the Dropbox program (very easy) and uninstalled Dropbox (my data files were left in place when I did a simple uninstall of Dropbox with the Windows Control Panel).

    I reinstalled the program — several times, in fact — but the problem persisted, despite multiple deletions and reinstalls. I was even checking in AppData for a Dropbox folder that might contain files that the uninstaller had left in place.

    The only thing that I ever saw was a suspicious file called .dropbox, which was not in AppData but in the main Dropbox folder. Finally I moved it out of there to an unrelated folder (and I even renamed the file). Once I did that, and installed Dropbox for about the fifth time, the "badge" said that it was downloading 9,000 files. Before, it had said nothing except "syncing", and it never really seemed to do anything. So all the files downloaded and I finally saw that comforting message: "Dropbox Up to Date".

    By the way, now when you install and set up Dropbox you have to decide on an "Online-Only" or "Local" setup. Dropbox tries to get you to opt for "Online-Only". However, I prefer to have my files actually on my computer (and they also get backed up to the online Dropbox). Dropbox says it does this to save space on your hard disk. However, all you have is a placeholder on your disk if you opt for "Online-Only". I chose "Local" for my setup.

    I thought that this might be helpful to someone. I hope it was or will be.

    By the way, when the download of 9,000 files started, a message said that it would take over 2 days. In fact, it took about 20 minutes. I always wonder why these calculations are wrong. They are always wrong.
    Last edited by ComicBent; 12-03-2019, 09:35 AM.

    "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

  • #2
    Re: Dropbox woes - solved

    Was going to post this yesterday. Crosscheck your dropbox folder on your computer to the cloud files occasionally. For some reason mine had stopped synching two years ago and unknowingly I've been relying exclusively on an ever more decrepit computer.

    Solution: re-downloaded the app and we're all good. Phew!
    I heard the starting gun


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    • #3
      Re: Dropbox woes - solved

      Mine is working fine.

      But thanks for the heads up.

      "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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