💡 Today I Learned

Ignore Files in Dropbox

There is no .gitignore equivalent for Dropbox.

But you can tell dropbox to ignore a specific file or folder:

(The "stream" we speak of here is an "alternate data stream" or ADS to the nerdliest. Files downloaded from the internet, for example, are "gifted" an extra stream, in windows, when stored in NTFS, called the Zone.Identifier stream, which contains ZoneId, ReferrerUrl and HostUrl keyvalue pairs.)

To undo the ignoring of the file or folder, clear the com.dropbox.ignored stream.

Set the com.dropbox.ignored stream to 1

Set the stream's value

Set-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FileToIgnore.pdf' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1
Set-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FolderToIgnore\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1

See if the com.dropbox.ignored stream has been updated

Get the value of the stream...

Get-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FileToIgnore.pdf' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored
Get-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FolderToIgnore\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored

Clear the com.dropbox.ignored stream

Clear-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FolderToIgnore\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored
Clear-Content -Path '~\Dropbox\FolderToIgnore\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored

See all the streams that a file/folder has

Get-item -Path '~\Dropbox\FolderToIgnore\FileToIgnore.pdf' -Stream * | select -prop stream, length

Returns (for example)

Stream               Length
------               ------
:$DATA              1495529
com.dropbox.ignored       3

Source