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Forum Discussion
Multiple Dropbox Folders Removal
I have two Dropbox folders after a messed up move process with one synced, and one not, but I cannot remove the unsynced one without possibly deleting the cloud storage as well.
For the move process, I accessed the preferences menu through the desktop taskbar icon on Windows to get to the sync page. From there I clicked “move” under the Dropbox folder location, and when the location box showed up, I chose the Local Disk (D:) drive so it would move the Dropbox location directly into the (D:) drive without being under any other folders. After confirming the location, a long loading bar popped up and finished moving over the contents. Later, I realized that the Dropbox folder was moved to the (D:) drive, but the old location in C:\Users\<username> was also still there with it still being synced to the cloud.
The new (D:) location did not have the cloud sync icons, and all of its contents had the X icon indicating they are not synced. When looking at the properties of the (D:) location, it showed there was 11GB stored on the disk and 2.5TB stored on the cloud. The (C:) location had significantly less stored on the disk, as it was synced to the cloud.
I manually moved the (D:) location into a sub-folder on the (D:) drive so I could redo the process of moving the (C:) location like I was originally trying to do, as it wouldn’t work with the (D:) location already being present. When I looked back at the sync page in preferences, it showed the install location was still in the C:\Users\<username>\ spot with the original folder, not the (D:) location even after I already moved through this exact window. With the first (D:) location in the sub-folder, I was able to successfully move the (C:) location as intended, and the (C:) location was removed after being moved to the (D:) drive. This new location synced with the cloud and is working properly now with the (C:) location removed, but the older (D:) location that is not synced is still present in the sub-folder.
When I try to delete the old folder, it shows it is deleting hundreds of GB of files, like it is deleting from the cloud as well as locally, so I canceled before it could finish. Despite not being synced like the main location and still having the X’s on all of the files, it deletes from the cloud when it is deleted locally. I do not know how this secondary location got messed up in the move process despite showing no errors or how to remove it without damaging my cloud storage as well. If anyone has an idea for how to remove this, it would be appreciated, thanks.
Hey Garrett, amazing job on the screenshots, you're a pro!
After checking everything, it seems that the app is working precisely how it should. The new Dropbox folder has all the syncing icons, and syncs the changes back and forth to the web.
The exact opposite happens to the "bad Dropbox" on the old path. Now, it's also important to note, that 4TB is a lot of storage.
I would suggest keeping your device open, and embracing yourself with some patience and the deletion should eventually take place. Have you given it lots of time to delete everything?
Do you get any errors?
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hey Garrett_High2001, let's get right into this!
Can you let me know what the app's syncing status is while we speak?
Also, you mentioned you manually moved the (D:) location into a sub-folder. Did you drag and drop it in the subfolder?
In which of the two folders, do you see the Dropbox syncing icons?
Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!
Hi Megan, the app’s syncing status is up to date and the original messed up (D:) location was dragged and dropped into the sub-folder.
The Dropbox syncing icons are present in the new (D:) location directly in the drive, and there are no syncing icons present in the older (D:) location in the sub-folder. Before I dragged and dropped the old location into the sub-folder, there were also no syncing icons present, so that didn’t change with that action. Also, to clarify after looking at an article about the sync icons, the synced icon is the gray cloud, which is Online-only, and the not synced icon is the gray X for me. For the older (D:) location that is not synced, the folder itself has no symbols at all, but the individual files inside of the folder each have the gray X’s. Thanks for the response!
- Megan
Hey Garrett_High2001, could you send me a couple of screenshots too?
Also, if you delete any content from the old (D:) location, does that reflect on the website too, despite the icons being present?
