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Dropbox provides LAN Sync for PCs to save time & money. Is there any way to enable it for Android devices? All Dropbox sync apps use only internet for syncing.

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Good question! But I think you have to contact Dropbox directly on this topic and maybe add a feature request. – Flow♦ Apr 14 '12 at 13:48
@Flow They don't provide even sync feature.. how can I request this feature? – Sachin Shekhar Apr 14 '12 at 14:07
You don't need a full sync for LAN sync. The Android device could pull the file in question from you local PC with a Dropbox instance running without performing a full sync. I think feature requests can only be done by paying customers, but you would post to the forum – Flow♦ Apr 14 '12 at 14:32
@Flow The whole point of LAN sync is to speed up normal sync. Technically, LAN sync is possible without internet sync, but how can it hold prime aim of Dropbox when files aren't uploaded to online Dropbox account.. And, what about your other devices not in LAN.. Is it really a sync? To provide LAN sync, they need to provide internet sync. LAN sync is a subset of normal Sync. – Sachin Shekhar Apr 14 '12 at 14:50
@Sachin The Dropbox app itself doesn't support syncing but you can use Dropsync or another third party app for that. – Erik Apr 15 '12 at 16:53
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2 Answers

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What you can do is use both Dropbox and a LAN syncing tool like Unison. I couldn't find any LAN syncing tool for Android but if you mount your device in Mass Storage Mode, running Unison purely on your PC should yield acceptable performance. It may also be possible to compile Unison on Android (it works on GNU/Linux), but that would be fairly difficult.

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In the latest version of Dropbox (2.1.1) there is an option to have your photos automatically uploaded, "Camera Upload" in Dropbox settings. That has a option which lets you specify whether to upload over Cellular Data or wait for a WiFi connection.

Other than Camera Upload, Dropbox hasn't yet enabled syncing for other folders or items between Dropbox/PC and a phone.

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What's with the downvotes? Could you provide a reason why my answer isn't useful. – thunsaker Apr 17 '12 at 22:19
Currently the Android app will sync any folders that you select, the question being, wether it has to go to Dropbox to do it, or if there is a way to just get the files from a local computer instead. This is irrespective of the new camera upload feature. – Shaun McDonald Apr 22 '12 at 15:59
I was unaware that you could sync an entire folder, as far as I knew you could "star" some files and that would sync them to/from your device. Where is this option buried so that I might sync my folders? – thunsaker Apr 23 '12 at 22:53
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There's a difference between syncing over WiFi and LAN sync. Syncing over WiFi simply connects to the internet through your WiFi router. So if you upload a file it goes over the internet to dropbox then back over the internet down to all the other connected computers, uploading and downloading over the internet several times. This isn't very efficient when all the computers are on the same LAN so dropbox users LAN sync and syncs devices that are on the same LAN directly only using the internet once to keep the dropbox cloud version in sync. – Matt Apr 28 '12 at 5:59
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I haven't asked for normal syncing... – Sachin Shekhar May 27 '12 at 21:36
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