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Forum Discussion
Why did the location of my Dropbox folder change?
Today I noticed that right clicking on files in my Dropbox folder (the ones pinned to my Finder sidebar) did not bring up the Dropbox menu options.
After further investigation I realized that Dropbox had moved my entire directory into /Users/library and displays this message, buried within preferences:
This version of macOS requires Dropbox folders to be stored here:
/Users/alex/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
I received no notice that this was happening. I have no idea when it happened and I have no way to know what version the files in the new directory are. What a mess!
Any advice on how to ensure my files are up to date and if it's safe to delete the old dropbox directory?
Thanks everyone
I'm on v147.2.4724 of the Mac client on a M1 Macbook with Monterey 12.3.1
Utterly unacceptable Dropbox moved the default location of the local sync folder and removed the option to move the folder to a custom location without adequate notification. Even now, the documentation on this isn't real clear and I've been unable to find a reasonable explanation for why this was done.
What is the benefit of this change? Nothing I've seen so far. Only confusion and workflow disruption.
I may be using Dropbox to sync file between devices, but they're still my files. It's not okay for Dropbox to move them around on my local drive without my consent.
I was actually considering moving to a paid subscription. This incident has eliminated that possibility.
This (along with using the lamest avatars in interweb history) is exactly how great companies fail.
- Nancy
Dropbox Staff
Welcome to our Community, Alex A.!
Just to have a closer look into this, can you please go to the Sync tab of your app’s preferences, and send me a screenshot of what you see there?
Besides that, you should’ve received an email regarding Dropbox and upgrading to macOS 12.3 (if you can’t find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder, as well).
For more details, you can also open this link.
Let me know what you find.
Thanks Nancy! Please see attached.
My main issue is understanding how to know where the latest version of my files are stored, in this new dropbox directory or in the old one.
I am using the latest beta (v147.3.4761) on macOS 12.3.1, but my files are still saved in the old location under the home directory. Why is Dropbox not moving my files to the new location?
I have this exact problem. The default location will not work as I don't have enough space on that drive. Why cant we move the dropbox folder to another drive?
nancy, my files are not on dropbox once I uploaded to 12.3.1 some are showing zero kb. but many are not even showing in the folder. Please advise when an update is coming or workaround. Your comment that Dropbox gave notice on 12.2. My mac OS is more important than Dropbox. if there is no fix how to export all my files to GDrive. My hope of course is there is a workaround. I even went on dropbox.com and many of my files and folders were not showing.
John
If this is the price for having on demand sync, I'd rather not have it.
I'm perfectly fine with choosing In my preferences which folders to manually sync.
I've started to use a Synology and there you still have the option to opt out of the selective sync.
Since the selective sync doesn't play well with apps that reference other files it's useless to me anyway.
best regards
Johannes
