Don't sync local copy to Dropbox

Question

Dropbox has a nice feature "Selective Sync" that allows you to choose which of your folders on Dropbox's servers should be synced with you local computer.

I would like to do the opposite. I have items in my local Dropbox folder that are very large and I don't want them uploaded and updated all the time. I tried using Selective Sync on the local folder, but it actually deleted the whole local copy.

Is there any way to tell Dropbox not to sync from local to cloud?

Answer 1

This is a bit of a hack, but it works nevertheless (for now at least):

1. Lets say you have a folder that you want to exclude called NON_CLOUD.
2. We first create an empty folder that is renamed to NON_CLOUD and place it into Dropbox.
3. Then, we use selective sync to unsync that folder: https://www.dropbox.com/help/175
4. Next, move your actual NON_CLOUD folder into the previous location of the empty NON_CLOUD folder.
5. That folder will have a grey circle with a “minus” sign and will not be synced to Dropbox.

Source.

At step 3, make sure the respective folder gets deleted from Dropbox before copying it again.

PS: I’ve tested it and it works.