7/25/2023 0 Comments Smart sync dropbox mac![]() ![]() Additionally, if you are a PC user and have a second hard drive installed in your machine, storing your Dropbox folder on that internal hard drive is also a very safe place. This is by far the safest place for it to be. If you have a large internal hard drive, like me, then you can and should store your Dropbox folder on your internal hard drive. ![]() I cannot stress enough the importance of this decision from the start and I will use big bold text below where you absolutely need to read and pay attention. Once you decide to sync Dropbox to your desktop, you need to tell Dropbox where it should live. Speaking of where to store your Dropbox folder, this is an important next step in your setup. Second, I am regularly scheduling clean-up time on my calendar to make sure that I go through my synced folder and set unneeded folder to “make offline.” This way I’m constantly refreshing my available free space where I store my Dropbox folder. Because I’m likely working on a project with someone at the time, I would let them them know to communicate to me that they gave me new files and I will decide whether or not I want to sync them and if I have enough space to do it. To manage my storage, I take the following two steps.įirst, in my Dropbox preferences, I tell Dropbox to create all new files and folders that it pulls down from the cloud as “online-only.” This way if I’m sharing a folder with another user, and they add a ton of new content, like footage, to that folder it won’t automatically start clogging up my hard drives. It replaces the cloud version of the file that was living up there with your new version, but it keeps a copy of the changes in the folder in case you ever need to revert to an older version of a file.įor small files like JPG images, spreadsheets and video project files, this process takes less than a second on standard upload/download speeds of 100mbps/10mbps.Īdditionally, any files added directly to the cloud via the web platform, or from another user who is sharing a folder with you, will automatically update and populate on the desktop folder you are using. When you work with files inside of your Dropbox folder on your desktop machine, anytime you modify a file, whether that’s a Word file or a Premiere project file, Dropbox recognizes that the files have been changed and immediately begins uploading the new files to the cloud. ![]() I rely heavily on Smart Sync for my workflow, which I’ll detail below. It will still live safely on your Dropbox account, but it won’t show up on your computer. With Selective Sync, you can tell Dropbox whether or not to even sync a folder to your computer at all. This means the folder will still be visible on your hard drive, but it won’t take up any space. With Smart Sync, you can select a folder on your computer and tell Dropbox to make it online-only. When you desktop sync your Dropbox folder to your computer, the files on your Dropbox appear in a dedicated folder on your hard drive.ĭropbox has two powerful tools for managing this storage. It has a web interface that works great, but the real power is in the desktop sync interface. In other words, it will use your Dropbox account as augmented cloud storage so that it’s like you have more space on your computer.A quick primer on Dropbox if you aren’t already familiar:ĭropbox is, like Google Drive, a cloud based storage solution for your files. Opening the file will trigger Dropbox to download the full file to your computer and then open it. If you are on a higher tier plan from Dropbox you can instead enable “ Smart Sync” which creates your entire Dropbox structure on your computer, but if you begin to run out of local storage files that have not been accessed in a while will get replaced with dummy files. ![]() If you need to access any files in those folders from the MacBook, go to in your Web browser instead, or adjust your Sync preferences to bring in the needed folder. Deselect the folders you want to prevent from syncing to the MacBook and click Update. In the Preferences window, click Sync and then click the Choose Folders to Sync button. On the MacBook, click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar, click your avatar in the upper-right corner, and choose Preferences. How do you prevent your large Dropbox account from overwhelming the laptop Mac’s available storage? The answer is Dropbox’s Selective Sync feature. If you’re like many of my clients who use Dropbox intensively, you have a desktop Mac with a large drive and a MacBook with much less drive space. ![]()
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