How to sync my Dropbox files with a preferred local folder?

Question

I installed Dropbox using following commands

cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86" | tar xzf -

Then I ran the demon with this command:

~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

Now I want to sync my Dropbox data with the /var/www local directory.
Is it possible?

Solution 1

Dropbox currently does not support syncing folders outside the Dropbox folder, according to their web site.

However you can achieve this by creating a symbolic link between the Dropbox folder and the other folder you want sync, using this command:

sudo ln -s ~/Dropbox  **/path/to/another/folder**

So when you go inside /path/to/another/folder, you will be taken into ~/Dropbox
Make sure the other folder is accessible after linking.

Solution 2

According to their site https://www.dropbox.com/help/12/en you can't sync folders outside the Dropbox folder, but there is a workaround in Ubuntu

To get other folders synced into Dropbox you have to create a symbolic link from the target folder to the Dropbox folder

For example:

ln -sfn ~/Documents ~/Dropbox

Solution 3

My five cents:

Using a virtual machine it is quite easy

First stop all the shares or uninstall dropbox.

Just create virtual disk and mount it in /etc/fstab.

Mount it to the ~/Dropbox, i.e., /home/user/Dropbox/ . Like this

/dev/sdb1    /home/blue/Dropbox/           ext4    defaults        0       2

Comments

[underscore]

yes @Naveen.I can setup it to the /var/www/Dropbox using interfaces

[Alvar]

I have my dropbox synced with a local folder on my laptop which is then synced with /var/www/. It's really nice.

[underscore]

@Alvar how did you do that ?

[Alvar]

See my answer! :)

[Jakke]

True, but you may run into permission problems if you link to your home folder. It is better to sync Dropbox to your /var/www/Dropbox folder and then link to /var/www

[Alvar]

@Jakke actually I don't get any permission errors, I've had this setup for half a year now. try it out if you don't believe me...