For months have been trying to delete a top level folder that keeps coming back in obsidian sync

What I’m trying to do

delete a folder

Things I have tried

deleting the folder on different vaults, making sure no vault is in a different cloud syncing device

You’re not giving a lot of information as to which devices are involved, and how many are trying to sync against the same vault where this folder keeps re-appearing. You doesn’t say which sync engine you’re using.

One way to try to remedy this could be as follows:

  • Make sure all devices are synced, and give them some time to complete their processes
  • Disable sync on all but one device
  • Remove the folder on that last device, and let it sync it changes
  • Re-enable the sync on the other device(s)

2 Windows PC, 1 Mac PC, 1 Ipad, 1 Iphone

No overlapping sync software

Using native obsidian sync functionality

all automatic syncing is on, and I try to delete the file and it keeps coming back. Made an entire new vault and it stopped for a while but now is happening again.

Solution of turning sync on every single device off besides one, removing problem folders, and then reactivating sync seems to work. Fine for me as long as it happens infrequently and that this would work consistently. This seems to confirm that this issue is with the sync system and not with any particular device, that may or may not have had an alternate sync program affecting it.

An attempt to try to explain why it works, is related to how you don’t if or when a folder is created/modified. So if some of the non-active device has the folder, and sees that the sync base doesn’t have it, it kind of assumes it has been recently created and needs to be synced.

If you turn off all the other devices, and then remove it, the sync base/origin gets updated, and when you turn the sync back on, it assumes that the sync base/origin is authoritative.

At least it’s something along those lines I imagine is why this procedure works.