I've had some issues with dropbox sync too, although I continue to use it as it seems to be the best solution for keeping working files in one location so I can access them anywhere on whichever computer I pick up to use. I'm not sure it's a good idea to be sharing the same working model at the same time as this could lead to issues or files getting renamed with extensions where it sees a conflict.
I think my issues may of been with larger files that took too long to save while there may of simultaneously been a dropbox sync happening?
One process i am currently trying is to save my working files to a folder on my local machine (which I also think has other speed benefits as it is a raid configuration) and then use a "folder sync utility" like "Allway Sync" to sync those files to the dropbox folder.
The automated configuration of Allway Sync will only update (sync the files) if there have been no changes to the saved file for a predefined period. I think (and I've yet to fully test it) this may be a more robust way to avoid conflicts?
Absolutely, one has to wait for dropbox to complete it's synchronization prior to logging off or shutting down as those files will not be on the server and consequently unavailable to other shared folders ( a mistake i see many new adopters of dropbox make).
Allway Sync is free with some imitations, and i know there are other similar solutions too. I would go with windows "SyncToy" but it requires manual sync, and to set it up in task manager is a bit too fussy and has limited options for sync times - unless you just want it to run once a day.