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

rhaines765's avatar
rhaines765
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

I want to stop backing up my desktop on Dropbox.

I am using a different app to backup my desktop computer and its files.  I want to continue to use Dropbox, but I don't need it to do the backups.  How can I stop this feature?
Desktop
Setting up the apps
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    Hey there rhaines765 - how are you today?

    As our desktop app is designed to watch your Dropbox folder and sync any files placed in the folder you'll only need to uninstall it. Remember, your Dropbox folder is just like any other folder on your hard drive, but with syncing features.

    You'd then be able to access your Dropbox account through the website at:

    https://www.dropbox.com/

    Note that the Dropbox folder itself is still there as a local copy of your Dropbox files at the time you uninstalled (or unlinked) our app from your account on your desktop computer.

    I hope this information helps and please let me know if you have any more questions!

dickson14631's avatar
dickson14631
New member | Level 2

Hey everyone,

I got off the phone to AppleCare after thinking this was an Apple issue. They informed me that it's a dropbox issue.

Basically, I can no longer access Desktop, Documents or Downloads via my Finder.

It shows the error message;

The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “Desktop” can’t be found.

It shows the same thing for all of them, "documents", "downloads" etc.

Every location is locked and is showing as an alias.

Apple support said that this is due to dropbox permissions and that the app has moved these files to a different location. 

I honestly hardly use dropbox, no idea how this has happened. 

Any ideas?

Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
2 years ago

Hey dickson14631, thanks for reaching out to our Community.

 

It seems you have enabled our backup feature, which moves your desktop folders to your Dropbox folder.

 

You can follow the steps here, to disable the feature and move your folders back to their original locations.

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