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I want to copy just my music (not films/tv/etc, so I cant just move the iTunes folder) on to dropbox, so I can listen to it from anywhere for free, but without copying the music as my hard drive space is becoming limited and I don't want to have to recopy everything, everytime I add a new track).

Is there anyway to make Dropbox include the music folder inside the Dropbox folder? If you create a shortcut in the dropbox folder it will just sync the shortcut itself, can I make the shortcut actually be the music folder?

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  • If you already have a folder in ~/Dropbox/Music/iTunes, then I think you want to use different names to avoid merge conflicts.
    – neaumusic
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 1:58

2 Answers 2

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The easiest way to this would be to simply create a folder in DropBox and then create a Symbolic Link to your Music only folder in iTunes.

There is a useful article on symlinks available here. Another one specific to DropBox is available here.

In example you could create a symbolic link to a folder named Music in DropBox as follows:

ln -s ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Music ~/DropBox/Music

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  • As I understand, Dropbox doesn't follow symlinks?
    – George Pearce
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:17
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    @iampearce Actually Dropbox has been designed to follow them: forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=13431
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:19
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    I stand corrected. Good call.
    – George Pearce
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:21
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    Can you please summarize the link so that all the important information is in your answer? Links have a tendency to degrade and disappear over time, so it is more helpful to put all the information into your answer. Thanks!!
    – daviesgeek
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:25
  • Dropbox indeed follows the link and uploads all music from /Music without filling up /Dropbox/Music, HOWEVER each synced file was consequently also deleted from /Music. Fortunately all music was successfully uploaded and I could retrieve it. Not a fail proof method.
    – Jan Werkhoven
    Commented Jun 15, 2015 at 14:32
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Why not physically move the folder in Finder into your dropbox (so instead of Music > iTunes Music you have Dropbox > iTunes Music) and then change the directory of your library (through iTunes > Preferences) to be in the right place?

No duplicates, music synced, all happy?

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  • Because if I change the directory of the library then dropbox will sync TV and Movies which will put me over the 2GB dropbox limit.
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:18
  • In which case, the symlink option Diago posted would be your best solution.
    – George Pearce
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 19:22
  • You could use Dropbox's Selective Sync feature to exclude the TV and Movies folders from being uploaded by Dropbox dropbox.com/en/help/175
    – Matthew Lock
    Commented Mar 19, 2015 at 7:17
  • You may want a duplicate copy on your Mac incase your Dropbox is on an external SSD, but want to listen to music or watch videos on the go
    – neaumusic
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 4:11

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