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
Dropbox desktop app changes without warning
Greetings. I am Destinydecade and I am here to state that today my Dropbox app on the desktop changed without warning. Before I would click on it and boom, Dropbox works. But when I click on it now, ...
WIButterfly wrote:
... everyone that uses a self-created desktop shortcut to start Dropbox should be having the same issue.
If you create your own Desktop shortcut and name it "Dropbox", then it will be overwritten any time the Dropbox application is updated. It has always done this and I commented on it years ago (before the start of these forums). Name the shortcut "My Dropbox" or anything other than "Dropbox" and it won't be replaced.
How can you conclude that this is working properly? For years, we’ve clicked on the Dropbox application shortcut we created on our desktops, and then suddenly, the shortcut disappears and is replaced by a shortcut to the Dropbox folder. Why on Earth would Dropbox developers force that upon users? Like, we don’t know when we want to open the folder, and when we want to start the application? They’ve decided that we are not allowed to have an application shortcut on our desktops because . . . ? They’re insisting that if want a shortcut to the app, we need to give it a place on our already-crowded taskbars? I created this shortcut, not Dropbox. What presumption on their part to change my shortcut. And how is it that they are even allowed to mess around with my desktop items anyway? (I guess I have to blame Microsoft for allowing that.) I think this behavior is unwarranted and disgraceful.
gfnov: Are you having the same problem? If so, that means that Dropbox must have done a recent update and everyone that uses a self-created desktop shortcut to start Dropbox should be having the same issue. If that is the case, perhaps you should contact Dropbox as well and voice your concerns. I was given Ticket #22361427 if you would like to make reference to it.
- Rich
Super User II
WIButterfly wrote:
... everyone that uses a self-created desktop shortcut to start Dropbox should be having the same issue.
If you create your own Desktop shortcut and name it "Dropbox", then it will be overwritten any time the Dropbox application is updated. It has always done this and I commented on it years ago (before the start of these forums). Name the shortcut "My Dropbox" or anything other than "Dropbox" and it won't be replaced.
I can't believe the resolution was that simple! I renamed my shortcut from Dropbox to Start Dropbox and you are correct; it works properly! I spent over an hour on chat with Dropbox and they couldn't come up with something as simple as renaming the icon? I don't know why I didn't think of it. I will reopen my ticket and tell them what the solution is.
Thanks everyone for your input and giving me a final resolution to my issue.
@WIButterfly “I don't know why I didn't think of it.” You didn’t think of it because the notion that an application suddenly doesn’t like your shortcut because of its name is ridiculous, and despite the claim that “it has always done this,” that is absolutely untrue, as you and I both know from the shortcut we’ve each used for years. And the Dropbox Support folks probably did not know the solution because it is a defect—or a new quirk that they have not been informed of. I’ve been using various version of Windows for 30 years and had never before seen this behavior from a Windows application, so there was no precedent for any of us to draw from in finding the user work-around for it.
Thanks. I will do that.
