Moving Dropbox folder from ~/Library/CloudStorage

elizeufreitas
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago
Hello.

I can help yes.1. Access Finder (File Explorer).
2. Press the following keys (CMD + Shift + G) "Go to folder"
3. In the next pop-up type /Users/~ and access your user's folder.
4. While in your user's folder, press the following keys (CMD + Shift + . ) "At the end, the dot key" will show the hidden folders.
5. Select the .dropbox and Dropbox folders, delete with the following keys (CMD + Alt + Delete).
6. Reinstall Dropbox. 😄

Follow print's for better understanding.

Note: The Dropbox folder is just a shortcut to "/Users/elizeu/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox"

Caminho absoluto das pastas de configuraçãoReal caminho da pasta Dropbox
- Plumspot
  Helpful | Level 6
  2 years ago
  Thank you for your insight and help. But that's what I was trying to avoid was the reinstall — as it takes days to resync up. Might as well move to Google Drive. Take it easy.
  - mrforged
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago
    You will not need to re-synchronize your files.
    
    Let's assume you have your huge Dropbox folder stored on an external drive and it is accessible at /Volumes/External/Dropbox. You can replace that location with the actual location of your folder for the remainder of these instructions. It will work just fine.
    
    BEFORE YOU BEGIN
    I assume your Dropbox folder is located on an external drive that can be accessed at /Volumes/External/Dropbox. You should substitute that folder with the actual location of your Dropbox folder as you go through this guide.
    
    If you have not already done so, make sure you quit Dropbox before you begin!
    
    Open a Terminal window
    In the Terminal, type
    
    sudo rm ~/Library/Dropbox && ~/Library/.dropbox
    
    Enter your Mac's password when prompted. You will not get any visual feedback while you are entering the password
    Run Dropbox. It will think it's the first time you run it. Go through the setup.
    As the last step of the setup, you will be asked to choose what files and folders in your Dropbox account you want to keep a local copy of. Select them all. Complete the setup.
    As soon as Dropbox loads, quit the app.
    Now go back to the Terminal:
    
    sudo rm ~/Library/Dropbox && ln -s /Volumes/External/Dropbox ~/Library/Dropbox
    
    To verify everything is good:
    
    ls -al ~/Library/Dropbox
    
    You should see a listing of all the files located at /Volumes/External/Dropbox If you don't, go back to step 2.
    OPTIONAL: Install macFuse https://osxfuse.github.io/
    Now start Dropbox. You are DONE!
- rng2023
  Explorer | Level 4
  2 years ago
  This doesn't really seem like precise step by step instructions ... I am on Ventura 13.2 and I don't have a users/dropbox folder. It's already in the cloud storage location. It's a brand new mini m2. Your instructions just talk about deleting and reinstalling Dropbox (which will yield the exact same results). Mind being a more precise for others who are struggling to move their Dropbox location?
  - B R Y N L S
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago
    I'm on Mac 13.2.1. I just got the notice to update my Dropbox, and it's now in the CloudStorage location. However, it was a little wonky. I have all my files saved locally, and in the cloud. But it set some to online only, etc... Also, I use Dropbox for my Apple Music library, and it was stuck on "syncing" as it doesn't like the "Automatically Add to Music" folder, so I had to set that one to ignore, and now no issues.
    
    So what I did was I have a backup externally, and I made a backup of my Dropbox folder, and put that on the desktop (I don't sync the desktop). I then delete all the files in my Dropbox, and then made sure everything was up to date, then I added my folders back one by one. But since I deleted them on Dropbox, but didn't delete them permanently, the process didn't seem to have to re-upload the files, it just pulled them in from Dropbox, etc. I have about 100 GB, so the entire process took about an hour, from the time I had to figure out what was going on, etc.
    
    But now my Dropbox is fine. The only thing is that by default now, Camera Uploads is online only, and if you make it available offline, it adds a green check. None of my other folders now have green checks by default, if I created them offline. And anything I drop in them from my Mac, they are available online, which I how I use Dropbox. I don't add files from other locations. So with Camera Uploads. I either have to manually download those, or set the folder to offline, but then deal with a single green check....
    
    Whatevs, it could have been worse.. and I blame Apple for all this.. I should be able to have my Dropbox folder wherever I want it... but oh well.
- Graham
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Hi elizeufreitas,
  
  I hope you are well today. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your contribution to this thread! I can see that you have put a lot of thought into finding this solution and even more thought and time into helping other Community members use it. We really appreciate your time and effort.
  
  Thanks again, and have a great weekend!
  
  Graham