My name is Florante.
In today’s video we’re going to talk about Dropbox file syncing issues and how you can resolve them.
If you are outsourcing the post production editing of your podcast you’re probably sharing your files with a file syncing provider like Dropbox. And if you ever had any issue with files not syncing on your editor’s end, chances are they’re probably a Windows computer.
So today, we’re going to make sure we resolve the sync problem and at the same time keep in mind what not to do again in the future so the sync will go on smoothly on both ends.
Alright, so to get started, first thing that you’ll need to do is to login to your Dropbox account.
Viewing it from the Files view doesn’t really reveal much whether our files are sync correctly or not. So what we’ll do is we’ll go to this link: https://www.dropbox.com/bad_files_check
This will help us check out which files and folders have sync issues.
You will notice that this a very powerful tool and something that I would highly recommend for you to visit every now and then just to make sure that you’re not missing any important files.
Now let’s examine the results:
There are two columns in the result that shows us the file affected and the reason why this file is not syncing.
And from a quick look, I can say that those question marks, asterisks and colons are the culprits.
So why did this happen?
If you click on the link just above the list of results you will find out why.
So the main issue is really more on the difference of operating systems used. The client I’m working with are using a Mac computer while I am on a Windows computer.
And since there are certain restrictions in Windows that is not restricted in Mac, hence, the result is a conflict when those files reach my end.
Windows users
* _ (less than)
* _ (greater than)
* : (colon)
* ” (double quote)
*
(vertical bar or pipe)
* ? (question mark)
* * (asterisk)
* . (period) or a space at the end of a file or folder name
Mac Users
Files or folders that begin with a period
Links mentioned in this tutorial: http://dropbox.com/help/145
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Great tutorial Florante! Like you, I encourage customers to be aware or how
they name files when uploading to Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud
sharing platforms. A quick edit of the filename may save time and effort
waiting on failed syncing — and coordinating with teammates. After all,
it’s about the ease of a podcast creator to share files with an audio
engineer. An observation I made is that when you go to the Dropbox
bad_files_check link, if you have a lot of files (thousands) then the check
takes a while so be patient. Cheers!
Sorry to hear that Vince, but just like any medicine, it doesn’t cure every
sickness. The tutorial isn’t a panacea to all your syncing problems. Try to
do a bit more research, and if you find a solution to it, you can freely
share it with us. Happy New year 🙂
Hey I have this problem= error loading account info 🙁
Great tutorial Florante! Like you, I encourage customers to be aware or how they name files when uploading to Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud sharing platforms. A quick edit of the filename may save time and effort waiting on failed syncing — and coordinating with teammates. After all, it’s about the ease of a podcast creator to share files with an audio engineer. An observation I made is that when you go to the Dropbox bad_files_check link, if you have a lot of files (thousands) then the check takes a while so be patient. Cheers!
+Loren Strand Thank you for watching. I totally agree that the best way to avoid these issues is to be mindful of how we name our files. And if you’re using Dropbox bad files check for a large number of files, your patience will all be worth it.
Great tutorial Florante! Like you, I encourage customers to be aware or how they name files when uploading to Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud sharing platforms. A quick edit of the filename may save time and effort waiting on failed syncing — and coordinating with teammates. After all, it’s about the ease of a podcast creator to share files with an audio engineer. An observation I made is that when you go to the Dropbox bad_files_check link, if you have a lot of files (thousands) then the check takes a while so be patient. Cheers!
+Loren Strand Thank you for watching. I totally agree that the best way to avoid these issues is to be mindful of how we name our files. And if you’re using Dropbox bad files check for a large number of files, your patience will all be worth it.
Hey I have this problem= error loading account info 🙁
YOY DIDNT HELP WITH ANYTHING AT ALL
Sorry to hear that Vince, but just like any medicine, it doesn’t cure every
sickness. The tutorial isn’t a panacea to all your syncing problems. Try to
do a bit more research, and if you find a solution to it, you can freely
share it with us. Happy New year 🙂
Sorry to hear that Vince, but just like any medicine, it doesn’t cure every sickness. The tutorial isn’t a panacea to all your syncing problems. Try to do a bit more research, and if you find a solution to it, you can freely share it with us. Happy New year 🙂
YOY DIDNT HELP WITH ANYTHING AT ALL
Sorry to hear that Vince, but just like any medicine, it doesn’t cure every sickness. The tutorial isn’t a panacea to all your syncing problems. Try to do a bit more research, and if you find a solution to it, you can freely share it with us. Happy New year 🙂
So if I change the names of files & folders to remove problem characters within the folder on my mac that syncs with dropbox (and another folder on a windows machine ) will that resolve its problems synching ? Should i pause sychibg before making changes then turn it back on?
Hi Erin,
Yes, that’s correct. Just rename it and remove any conflicting characters and it should be good to go.
So if I change the names of files & folders to remove problem characters within the folder on my mac that syncs with dropbox (and another folder on a windows machine ) will that resolve its problems synching ? Should i pause sychibg before making changes then turn it back on?
Hi Erin,
Yes, that’s correct. Just rename it and remove any conflicting characters and it should be good to go.
I am having issues files not syncing both of them are Windows version. I have two computers, one at home and the other one at work. I noticed the files are not syncing. Does it have to do the file location? If so, how can I get them to sync to the same location? Please help
Check if you have selective sync turned on on the computer where your file is not syncing.
where is it located? Neither one is not syncing to the other computer
On the lower right of your computer, you’ll see the dropbox icon, click on it. A popup window/dialog box will open. On the top right of that dialog box, click on the cog wheel icon then choose preferences. Once the preference window is open, go to the account tab. you should be able to see Selective sync from the list. Click on Selective sync and check which folders are ticked. if a folder is not ticked, it means it’s not going to sync.
The Selective Sync is on. That not it. 🙁
The home location is set to my C:\user drive. The one at the office is sent to my email address.
I am having issues files not syncing both of them are Windows version. I have two computers, one at home and the other one at work. I noticed the files are not syncing. Does it have to do the file location? If so, how can I get them to sync to the same location? Please help
Check if you have selective sync turned on on the computer where your file is not syncing.
where is it located? Neither one is not syncing to the other computer
On the lower right of your computer, you’ll see the dropbox icon, click on it. A popup window/dialog box will open. On the top right of that dialog box, click on the cog wheel icon then choose preferences. Once the preference window is open, go to the account tab. you should be able to see Selective sync from the list. Click on Selective sync and check which folders are ticked. if a folder is not ticked, it means it’s not going to sync.
The Selective Sync is on. That not it. 🙁
The home location is set to my C:\user drive. The one at the office is sent to my email address.
Didn`t get any but still there is syncing problem.
Didn`t get any but still there is syncing problem.
This worked for me. Thank you. Also add “/” to your list of character’s not to use from a mac to windows…
Great to hear that and thanks for the tip to add “/” to the list.
1:51 wtf
I have some files on My Mac that used to be in my Dropbox and I got a Google cloud service and uploaded it there and kept my Dropbox. But I got rid of the Google cloud service. And I tried to sync all those files back to Dropbox and now it just takes forever to sync. So I want to cancel the syncing process and then manually do the sync by each folder one by one.
How can I cancel the sync process? Cause each time I start it it just lags….so I have to pause it.
Hi Kyle, you can try going to the Dropbox preferences and under sync choose selective sync so you can choose which folders to sync first and just stop those folders that you don’t necessarily need right away.
YOY DIDNT HELP WITH ANYTHING AT ALL
Hahaha, at least I tried. Cheer up 🙂
Maybe change the name of this video, it is terribly misleading.
Hey Chris, not sure what I’m missing why you’d say it’s misleading. I’ve discussed exactly what’s in the title – Troubleshoot and Fix. If it didn’t work for you, that’s another topic.
One of the first lines you say is about “out sourcing post production of your podcast”. Then you talk about validating file names, in a shared folder, and operating systems. This video has nothing to do with what people are looking for when they search for “How to Troubleshoot and FIX Dropbox Syncing Problems”. People want to know why Dropbox is always syncing on their computer and slowing it down. Perhaps the video should be called “Validating file names in a Dropbox shared folder to fix syncing problems”.
Thank you for elaborating. I was presenting the syncing problem from the context of an editor-podcaster collaboration which from my experience happens when one party uses a Mac and the other is on a Windows PC.