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
How to view Backup folder on DropBox app?
Greetings community!
Previously, I used to be able to see my Mac represented on my Dropbox as a folder (I had enabled the backup option). This was super convenient because I could easily access...
I'm fairly illiterate about the inner workings of Dropbox. IF I'm not mistaken (and I may well be), using Backup was the only way I could prepare a document on my iMac, save it in an existing Documents (or Desktop) folder on my computer and have it simultaneously be included in that same folder on Dropbox Backup. Perhaps the sync function accomplished that but I was never sure! The sync function seemed to require me to put the document into a Dropbox folder/file rather than into one in my existing Documents folders on my Mac. In any case, the Backup Documents & Desktop folders were easily accessible on my iPhone and in my Dropbox app on my Mac desktop. But that no longer appears to be the case. Today I scanned a document using my Dropbox on my iPhone. I wanted to put it into a Documents folder BUT that was in Dropbox Backup and was NO LONGER available to me. Were I to move all my Documents folders currently in the new Dropbox Backup straight into Dropbox (as one respondent here suggested as a makeshift solution), I could move that scanned file into Documents in Dropbox BUT would it also show in my Documents folder on my Mac? I suspect not but beats me. HELP!! (And I apologize if what I've written above makes no sense to those of you who understand how things work!)
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey Donald Newman, thanks for reaching out to us.
If you've updated your backup to the new experience, it's true that your backed up folders won't be accessible from the mobile app.
If you want to access files from the mobile app, you can add them to your Dropbox folder instead.
Otherwise, you can always access your backups from your backups page on dropbox.com.
- Thank you, Hannah. Am I correct that were I to add my Documents folder to Dropbox and not have it in Backup that I would then no longer be able to see files I place in the Documents folder in Dropbox in my Documents folder on my computer? Currently I simply save a file in my Documents folder on my computer and it is automatically saved or backed up in my Documents folder in Backup. Thank you for clarifying whether I have an accurate understanding.
- Rich
Super User II
Donald Newman wrote:
Am I correct that were I to add my Documents folder to Dropbox and not have it in Backup that I would then no longer be able to see files I place in the Documents folder in Dropbox in my Documents folder on my computer?If available to you, use the feature in your operating system to move the Documents folder to a new location, and move it into your Dropbox folder. That's how the old backup feature worked. It didn't back up your Documents folder in its original location. It MOVED your entire Documents folder into the Dropbox folder so it could sync.
If you have the ability to move the Documents folder in your OS (i.e. like you can in Windows), just move it to Dropbox and you've recreated the old Backup feature functionality.
