You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

zephyr707's avatar
zephyr707
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Best practices for using symlinks (symbolic links)

Hi there, I use dropbox on linux with symlinks, but am not sure which is the best/preferred way to use them. Is there a best practice for using this type of configuration? Currently I use symlink...
Create
desktop
Linux
sync
  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    6 years ago
    Hey there zephyr707,
     
    I would strongly recommend sticking with the current configuration you currently have, which would be having the actual files in the Dropbox folder and having your symlinks in the home directory. In this case, it wouldn’t have any affect on the files syncing as the actual files are within the Dropbox folder.
     
    Issues occur with syncing when the files are located elsewhere and the symlink is within the Dropbox folder instead. This can cause performance issues and high CPU usage when trying to sync the files. In some cases, the desktop app may even just sync the symlink file itself and not the referenced file. This will mean the actual file won’t be synced to your Dropbox account so you wont be able to access the actual file via the web or other devices your account syncs to.
     
    Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
niazy's avatar
niazy
Helpful | Level 6

Hi there,

I've had this setup (linking my Desktop to the a ~/Dropbox/Desktop for years now. However, I just bought a new Macbook Pro running OS X catalina. Everytime I create the symlink to the Dropbox, it initially works, but then the OS restores what seems like a default folder and deletes the link. 

Any ideas?

niazy's avatar
niazy
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

I have found a workaround that may help you guys at Dropbox provide us with a more elegant solution. After creating the symlink to my Dropbox desktop folder, I locked the link file by displaying its info and checking the 'Locked' checkbox. That seems to do the trick. I checked that I can still write and save to my desktop. I have also restarted my machine (this step previously resulted in my link deleted and a new Desktop folder created) and everything is intact. 

  • malikjfernando's avatar
    malikjfernando
    Helpful | Level 5
    6 years ago

    Thanks niazy  would like some guidance on how you removed the existing desktop folder from the Mac Catalina home directory. I don't seem able to. Did you create a new desktop folder in Dropbox folder and move that locked symlink to the Mac home folder? After a restart would that delete the original desktop folder in the home folder? I'm nervous to experiment too much!

  • malikjfernando's avatar
    malikjfernando
    Helpful | Level 5
    6 years ago

    Terminal didn’t allow me to create a symlink from the newly created Desktop folder in Dropbox to the home folder saying Desktop exists. So I created a link to my desktop and tried to drag it to home folder.  It didn't allow me saying - “Desktop” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS.

  • Marcelo4's avatar
    Marcelo4
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    Dear Niazy,

    I am trying to implement your suggestion, but I find that upon creating Desktop as a symbolic link, when I bring up "Get Info" the "Locked" box, as well as everything else, is greyed out and not modofieable. Have you experienced that? I have Catalina too. 

    Thank you, 

    Marcelo

  • lopesgui's avatar
    lopesgui
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    Dear Marcelo4,

    I had the same issue with the greyed check box. I solved it by locking the folder where the symlink is inside. In my case, I locked my user folder. So far it's working. After restarting the system it stoped deleting my symlink and messing things up. I just hope I won't have problems by locking my own user folder on Mac. lol

    Hope it works for you too.

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!