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Forum Discussion
Can't delete folder on my Mac called Dropbox
Hi. My problem is that I can't delete a folder called Dropbox on my Mac. It is located in /Users/radoslawz/Public/Drop Box. I had deleted everything. All libraries. Cache. App. And still - nothing. I am not even sure when I bought this mac I was installing DropBox. This folder is not locked and I have all priviliges to view end edit, but can't delete it. There is possibility that it is a virus, what I can do?
I was having the same issue and since I couldn't find much help online, I decided to try something that worked for me.
Open your terminal (Cmd + Spacebar > Search for "terminal") and run the following commands:
cd ~/Public
(navigates to the "Public" folder)sudo rm -r "Drop Box"
(deletes Drop Box folder and any files it may contain. If the filename is different simply change the content in between quotes)You will be asked for your password, type it and hit Enter ↵
(Rest assured, although you don't get any visual feedback, your password is being written)That's it, let me know if worked for you!
I was having the same issue and since I couldn't find much help online, I decided to try something that worked for me.
Open your terminal (Cmd + Spacebar > Search for "terminal") and run the following commands:
cd ~/Public
(navigates to the "Public" folder)sudo rm -r "Drop Box"
(deletes Drop Box folder and any files it may contain. If the filename is different simply change the content in between quotes)You will be asked for your password, type it and hit Enter ↵
(Rest assured, although you don't get any visual feedback, your password is being written)That's it, let me know if worked for you!
After multiple attemps and macOS asking me that Terminal wants permissions and certain folders not deleting it finally worked!
sudo rm -r ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
I am in the same boat and waisted hours on this. Dropbox will duplicate files and then always needs permission to delete them. I can't write to them and using Scrivner is now a mess. I am so frustrated with Dropbox on Apple Silicon. I have tried running
~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
and then
sudo rm -fr ./Dropbox in Terminal and not even that will delete the files. Still shows 20 gigs there. The files will not transfer to the desktop. Just a mess!
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hey radoslawz, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.
It sounds like you enabled the Dropbox backup feature at some point on your computer. Did you disable it as outlined here before uninstalling the desktop app from your computer?
If not, you can try moving or restoring this folder's path to its original location and deleting it from there if needed.
If you still get an error along the way, please send us a screenshot so that we can have a visual too.
Thanks!
