Dropbox update: Logic and FCPX projects may not sync on macos 12

[dundergufs]

Headsup: The Dropbox service is now transitioning to Apple native, and this shift introduces changes:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

One of the issues for macOS 12 (but not macOS 13): 

* Certain files, such as .fcpxml (Final Cut Pro) and .logicx (Logic Pro), may not sync. 

I'm on macOS 12, but my Dropbox isn't updated yet so don't have any practical experience yet.

Been using Dropbox for decades (!) with zero problems and great benefits, including syncing all projects and sound libraries. (My syncing is for backup, backup versioning and duplicate my work on multiple systems.)

Up until now Dropbox has technically and practically been perfect for me, and a much better service than iCloud, but now....  Not enthusiastic about these changes, though it might turn out unproblematic in the end. Many other cloud storage services also introduce similar restricitions. There are more practical details  and experiences in this Hacker News thread and here's a Macrumours article on the change.)

 

[linusminus]

I had no clue, thank you! What makes me most scared is that it'll change location. That would break a lot of projects I'm working on as I keep my sample library in the Dropbox folder 😔

[dundergufs]

Same here, got tons of stuff in there with dependencies.

Apparently when the update happens, it will create a symbolic link ~Dropbox at the previous (your current) location of Dropbox, so theoretically everything depending on files being located in ~Dropbox/YourFolderStructure should practically work as before. If it doesn't create this symlink, you can create that link yourself. 

But I don't know, I also really don't like these changes 😒 In particular I don't like this update being forced on me automatically, AFAIK there is no way to turn off Dropbox autoupdating itself and at the same time keep using Dropbox as normal. I would very much like to do this update manually, when I have time to be conscious about it and verify that everything works. At best I'd wait until I have to migrate to macOS 13.

Though, it *might* be fine, who knows. I'll update here when it happens to me, at the moment it hasn't updated for me yet. 

 

[linusminus]

Phew, that's a relief. Otherwise, I guess worst case you'd simply create a new folder called Dropbox in the same location with your samples 😅

Yes, the automatic updates have always struck me as odd. I'm also on macOS 12 like you because I work on a bunch of important projects and I need everything to work as expected. Maybe updating to 13 is fine now—not sure!