We're making changes to the Community, so you may have received some notifications - thanks for your patience and welcome back. Learn more here.
Forum Discussion
tomikobako
2 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Desktop, Downloads and Document folders have disappeared on macbook after uninstalling dropbox
Hi all,
I recently moved all my files in Desktop, Downloads and Document folders to iCloud to back them up before uninstalling dropbox. As soon as I uninstalled dropbox, these folders have disappe...
- 2 years ago
That's great to hear, tomikobako!
Before you delete anything, can you check how the backup of the particular computer appears here, in your backups page? Does it look active?
If so, you should be able to go through the steps I linked in my previous response, to disable/delete the backup.
tomikobako
Explorer | Level 4
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for writing back. I went to that page and I can see that there is my Desktop, Downloads and Documents folders with files in them. I tried to install the Dropbox desktop app again to see if I can bring those folders back to my macbook's local files but my laptop came back with "insufficient permissions". My screenshots say something like it can't save it to that folder because it's no longer there... What is the problem here do you think? Is it a problem with not deleting the Dropbox app properly (I just copied all files to iCloud, then uninstalled Dropbox), or is it something to do with how my macbook is set up?
Don't really know what/who to ask now...
Regards,
Tomiko
Hannah
2 years agoDropbox Staff
Hey tomikobako, sorry to jump in here!
It sounds like this was caused by uninstalling the Dropbox app without disabling the computer backup feature on your Dropbox app.
Now that you reinstalled Dropbox, if you go through the steps to enable backup, what do you see? is it prompting you to set things up from scratch?
- tomikobako2 years agoExplorer | Level 4Hi, thanks for the reply… I can’t download Dropbox or anything else, it says the location doesn’t exist to do so.
- Nancy2 years agoDropbox Staff
Hey again, Tomiko!
Can you send over a screenshot of the message you keep receiving on your end?
Did you try to download the desktop app via this link?
- tomikobako2 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Hello Nancy,
Thanks for that link - it worked. I'm somehow relieved.
Now what do I do, to get my macbook's folders (Desktop, Downloads, Documents) operating again?
Regards,
Tomiko
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!