Dropbox delete all files in an externally synced, mac folder

No, its an internal slot in the MacBook where you can put an extra SSD disk in the form om a micro SSD.

Then again, I’d ask: What is the Dropbox location - the file path - on each Mac?

For example, the default location is a Dropbox folder in the root of your home directory, i.e., /Users/yourUser/Dropbox.

What is the path on each Mac involved?

“/Volumes/ExternalMACOS/DropboxWORKEM”

That’s the file path for Dropbox on all Macs?

No, the rest are “~/DropboxWorkEM”.

Is there a reason why the location is different on your Macs? Do you use the same Dropbox version on all of them?

That is what I expected and not a good idea when indexing files. The files are going to show up as missing in the database on one machine or the others. You must be using the same location for your local Dropbox repository.

Note: If you haven’t, you should read the Help > Documentation > In & Out > Importing & Indexing section as well as the subsection on syncing indexed files.

The reason is that the size of existing macbook SSD is to small to contain all the dropboxfiles (together with the iCloud files). So an external disk is needed.

Again, if you’re going to be indexing the files in Dropbox into DEVONthink and syncing between Macs, on all Macs involved


So, if you don’t keep the files in the same local directory then Dropbox will delete the files?

I think basically what happens is Mac A says “here are indexed documents in /FolderA/”, and tells Mac B “hey, there are indexed documents at the following path: /FolderA/”. Mac B (on which the files are located in FolderB) says “hey, they’ve gone, the user must have deleted them; hey Mac A, you can get rid of them”. So Mac A deletes them, and at the same time - because FolderA is synced to Dropbox - deletes them from Dropbox.

This happens because indexed files are expected to be present at the same location (path) on all Macs.

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Does the same problem happen if you use Selective Sync and do not choose to sync the indexed folder on all of your Macs?

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My assumption would be that no, there would be no problem if you chose not to sync the content of indexed items via DT (Preferences > Sync > Location/Settings/Show Info > deselect Synchronise contents of indexed items); I would assume that you could then index different locations on either Mac, effectively leaving sync to Dropbox.

That setting is, of course, universal to a location, so depending on your setup could affect numerous other folders.

Sounds like some experimentation/trials is in order.

I’m frankly surprised that DEVONthink successfully syncs the (effectively) pointes to indexed files if the two copies of DEVONthink believe the same files are actually in different locations.

On all my sync MacDevices, the Dropbox folder is per Dropbox’s default ~\Dropbox 
 but I am cognisant that DEVONthink is doing it’s own thing in hidden folders.

Well, I don’t think it does - that’s why it goes wrong. Thing is, DT can’t tell the difference between a folder deleted via Finder and a folder which simply isn’t there.

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yes. me too. would never even consider it. waste of time given we know we’ll what works.

Im now having the same problem with OneDrive, that files indexed by DevonThink are deleted.

Only files related to Devonthink are suddenly deleted.

This lead to the conclusion that DevonThink is the root cause to this behavior, not Dropbox or Microsoft.

I have changed to the same location for all machines.
And, I removed the externally mounted SSD-drive.

SĂ„ Dropbox are Nice again.

But then, today, Onedrive - with indexed items, exhibit the same behaviour as Dropbox did before.

You might want to see this thread in which I predicted exactly what you are describing :wink:

On the basis of what is known from this thread, and the thread I quoted above, I would conclude that the problem you experienced with Dropbox was down to using different paths on different Macs, and the problem you are experiencing with OneDrive is down to a changed path and/or non-persistent local files. The indexing mechanism in DT requires that paths are identical across devices and that files are persistent locally. If you don’t abide by those rules (through lack of awareness of the rules - your situation with Dropbox - or due to a change in the way your software works - most likely your problem with OneDrive) you’re going to run into problems.

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And to embellish @Blanc’s comments, from Help > Documentation > In & Out > Sync > Indexing and Sync