Curious about A, B, C, and D drives? Learn what they mean and how to use them effectively with Dropbox in this handy guide! - check it out now!
Forum Discussion
Solved
There are no green checkmarks on any files in my dropbox folder.
This is a Windows 10 machine.
I have tried quitting and restarting the dropbox app.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app.
I am viewing the correct folder -- I clicked ...
Hi again Iainmcc - thanks for the screenshots and the additional details - most appreciated!
This issue might be coming down to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your computer's OS.
Please note that Windows has a limit of 15 overlay icons that Windows Explorer can load, and the operating system reserves 4 for its own use. If there are more than 15, then the Dropbox icons or context menus may not show.
To fix this and move the Dropbox sync icons to the first 15 positions:
1. Follow the steps in this article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also)
2. A “Registry Editor” window will open.
3. Navigate through the following folders:
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “CurrentVersion” > “Explorer” > “ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers”
4. Rename (right-click and click Rename) the files, so that the Dropbox files appear in the first 15 files in the list. You can do this by putting spaces in front of those file names, so that they move higher up in the list.
5. Close and restart both of your computer and the Dropbox desktop app.
Let me know how it goes!
Hi Megan,
Here's a couple of screenshots -- one from my laptop which is working, and one from my desktop which is not working.
From the laptop:
The green circles with white checkmarks on the bottom left of every icon is what I expect to see.
Here's what I see on the desktop:
Notice there are no green circles with white checkmarks in them on any icon. I don't get the blue-with-two-circling-arrows decoration when a file is syncing either.
Hope that helps.
Thanks
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi again Iainmcc - thanks for the screenshots and the additional details - most appreciated!
This issue might be coming down to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your computer's OS.
Please note that Windows has a limit of 15 overlay icons that Windows Explorer can load, and the operating system reserves 4 for its own use. If there are more than 15, then the Dropbox icons or context menus may not show.
To fix this and move the Dropbox sync icons to the first 15 positions:
1. Follow the steps in this article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also)
2. A “Registry Editor” window will open.
3. Navigate through the following folders:
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “CurrentVersion” > “Explorer” > “ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers”
4. Rename (right-click and click Rename) the files, so that the Dropbox files appear in the first 15 files in the list. You can do this by putting spaces in front of those file names, so that they move higher up in the list.
5. Close and restart both of your computer and the Dropbox desktop app.
Let me know how it goes!
Thanks, Walter,
That did it! I was reminded that this happened when I moved my Windows installation from HDD to SDD. I used Acronis (a free 5-year license came with the SDD). In the registry, I found that Acronis had put its own entries in there, so I had Onedrive (7), Acronis (4), then Dropbox.
So I renamed things so that Dropbox's 10 entries come first, restarted Explorer and the Dropbox app, and the overlays came back.
Thank you very much, guys, for all your help.
