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Forum Discussion
Moved Folders into OneDrive and I cannot access one of them
I moved two very large directories from Dropbox folder into my OneDrive folder.
Well, I tried anyway. One folder appears to have moved everything over. The other hasn't and now many of my files on my (PC) desktop are unavailable at the old location (Dropbox folder) or the new location (OneDrive). I can see the folders visiting Dropbox online.
One suggested fix is to uninstall Dropbox then reinstall. However, that could take well over a week and I am traveling multiple times over the next three weeks. The one time I rely on Dropbox the most and it's currently failing me.
Whenever I try to start Dropbox on my desktop it returns with a 'Dropbox failed to start' modal popup and I have been unable to restart it for over two weeks now.
DROPBOX: You MUST warn us when moving folders what the ramifications are BEFORE we do this. This is particularly painful right now since I also migrated over to Microsoft 365. Your strategy seems to be to keep us in the dark to incentivize us to never leave you. I don't do hostage well. You could do better.
Thanks!
Hey Jerry H.14, thanks for coming to our Community with this.
When you move a file or folder out of the Dropbox folder, Dropbox considers this file or folder as deleted.
So, if you're able to access it online, it makes me think that it wasn't really moved out (at least properly, as you've also realized).
How large is this folder? Have you tried downloading it from the Dropbox website instead?
- Mark
Super User II
Dropbox does tell you this Jerry H.14 - it gives a pop up telling you it will remove it from all devices etc. HOWEVER it only appears once if you tell it not to appear again.
Great to know. Thanks.
I'm still stuck however in that I have a huge folder caught in between OneDrive and Dropbox Online - because I cannot access files in my desktop PC Dropbox folder (which is alarming to say the least).
Any help would be appreciated!
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey Jerry H.14, thanks for coming to our Community with this.
When you move a file or folder out of the Dropbox folder, Dropbox considers this file or folder as deleted.
So, if you're able to access it online, it makes me think that it wasn't really moved out (at least properly, as you've also realized).
How large is this folder? Have you tried downloading it from the Dropbox website instead?
Thank you for the response Hannah.
I ended up moving the directory from OneNote to Dropbox and within minutes Dropbox was re-indexing and returning to normal. No problems with Dropbox here (once the dust has settled... and it is as reliable as any). I'm moving large collections due to my company migrating over to OneNote so about half my files need to be moved.You explained that if the folder is moved from DB on my PC that DB considers the folder deleted so question answered.
Thanks for the insight!
- Hannah
Oh, that's great to hear, Jerry, I'm happy to help!
Awesome that you were able to figure it out and everything worked out in the end.
If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let us know!
