Does Dropbox Upload When Computer Is Sleep

Dropbox is ane of the all-time ways to backup files and folders to a cloud server. It'south likewise 1 of my favorite tools for syncing files beyond multiple computers and mobile devices, nothing beats the simplicity and ease of use of Dropbox. Only run the customer, drop the folders and forget !

I am an avid user of online back up services similar Windows Live Skydrive and Mozy just always prefer Dropbox for quick backups, syncing and sharing folders across multiple computers.

I of the limitations of Dropbox is that there is no way to turn off the calculator, in one case Dropbox file sync is consummate. I utilize this Firefox extension to shut down the computer after file downloads, then it would be great if the same thing is applicable for Dropbox too.

Allow's say y'all have reinstalled Windows and desire to download all the files from your Dropbox account. It's already past midnight and you desire a quick way to download all the information from your Dropbox folder and auto shutdown the computer after Dropbox sync activity is complete. How practice you do that ?

Ordinarily, you would have to await until Dropbox finishes downloading all files and and then put the computer to sleep mode. Y'all may likewise choose to pause the sync action only that won't help much. This is because shutting down the figurer won't resume the sync activity from the signal you left off.

Automatically Shutdown Your Computer Afterward Dropbox File Sync Is Complete

Here is a slap-up piddling Dropbox add-on which can check the condition of Dropbox sync activity using a Batch script and put your estimator to standby or sleep mode after the sync activity is complete. Post-obit are the steps involved to employ the script with your ain Dropbox account:

i. Download the Folder Status Dropbox add together-in (Check the Python source code by Steve )

2. Unzip the package on your figurer and copy the path of the folder.

3. Open control prompt and change the directory to that folder. For example: If you have placed the folder on E:\DBS, blazon E: followed by cd DBS as shown below

Dropbox Folder Status 4. Now type the following command exactly as written below:

dbFileStatus "D:\My Dropbox" // replace D:\My Dropbox with the actual location of your Dropbox folder.

5. Close the control prompt window, open windows notepad and paste the following lawmaking :

@echo off
:Start
"East:\DBS\dbFileStatus.exe" "D:\My Dropbox" > dbstatus.txt
findstr /thou "up to date" dbstatus.txt
if %errorlevel%==0 (
%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState
) else (
Sleep 30
GOTO START
)

Note: Call up to replace E:\DBS\dbFileStatus.exe with the actual location of the Folder status Dropbox add together-in and D:\My Dropbox with the bodily location of your "My Dropbox" folder.

Here is how the lawmaking looks on my computer:

6. Save the notepad file as anyname.bat on your desktop or whatsoever other location of your choice. Be certain to pull up the file type menu and cull "All Files" instead of choosing "Text document".

seven. All done!

How The Script Works

Whenever yous double click the Batch file, it starts checking for a simple text file (dbstatus.txt) saved to the DBS folder with the condition "upwardly to engagement". The script runs recursively and keeps on checking that text file until it encounters the "upward to date" condition.

When Dropbox sync activity is complete, the status is automatically changed to "upward to date" and the script shuts down the computer on it'due south own.

Hence, you will need to start the sync action, and double click the batch file simply one time. So you can become elsewhere and let the script automatically put your computer to sleep mode, when Dropbox has finished information technology's entire sync action.

When Will You lot Need This ?

You will simply need this script just when you have a large corporeality of data waiting to be downloaded from your Dropbox account. If your Dropbox sync status is already up to date, don't run the script.

This is because equally soon equally you lot run the script, your calculator will get to sleep or stand by mode as the status will exist "up to date" past default.

The DB Status Add-in works perfectly well for Windows XP and Windows 7, although I ran into some problems getting it working on my estimator. When the first time I ran the Batch file, the code went into an infinite loop, as shown beneath:

If you see the aforementioned command prompt window after executing the Batch file, try this alternating Dropbox Status Checker Package for Windows7 (courtesy EMT on Dropbox Forums).

Download the packet and update the UpToDateStandby.bat file with all the credentials. Information technology worked like a amuse !

Thanks Ashish Mohta for the hat tip.

Be sure to check out our earlier tutorials on Dropbox and some avant-garde customizations at the following links:

1. Dropbox Tips and Tricks – your guide to everything Dropbox
two. Sync Files and folders outside the MyDropbox binder

How practice you similar the idea of shutting down your calculator after Dropbox sync activity ? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments beneath.