Dropbox app on Windows 7, and the pop-up system tray appears funky.

[avengerx]

I have a little old notebook that's 1024x600 screen and Windows 7, and it's been long since I can't easily see and change some settings in the app interface unless I do some hacks.

I searched some and didn't see anybody else complain about this issue. Any chance we could get this fixed, or we'd better off making AHK scripts to force change windows heights and scrollbars if I really want to see all settings in options dialogs and the top line in the main sync screen?

For the main sync screen I can actually work around the issue by alt+space, then choose move, and move the window down. But for the settings, I would need, say, to create an AHK script to increase the window height so I could move the window up (and out of viewport) and see the "dropbox path" option.

A few versions old, I was still able to see all settings, but the main sync screen has been cut out from my (tiny) desktop for a long time.

I also use dropbox windows app in some bigger screens without issues for win10 and mac computers.

[Walter]

Hey @avengerx - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could you send us a screenshot of what's troubling you so that we can make sure we're on the same page?

Also, what version of the Dropbox desktop app are you using at the moment? 

Any additional information is more than welcome! 

[avengerx]

Here you go:tray popup screen just after reboot as it starts up

tray popup after it somehow "settles in"

preferences dialog with cut content - backups tab

preferences dialog with cut content - notifications tab

preferences dialog with cut content - sync tab

I think this pretty much covers it all.

[avengerx]

Oh, there isn't a version string in any screenshot! It reads here: 200.4.7134. I just downloaded this version yesterday. The previous one it had (don't remember the number anymore) I had issues just with screenshots 1-2 from my previous post. This Something between the versions introduced the issue in preferences dialog, at least as far as I browsed yesterday before updating.

[Megan]

Hey @avengerx, thanks for the added info! 

You mentioned this been happening for a long time, right? Would you by any chance be able to recall when this started happening?

Also, it might sound trivial, but have you tried a complete reboot of your computer?

[avengerx]

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@Megan wrote:

Hey @avengerx, thanks for the added info! 

You mentioned this been happening for a long time, right? Would you by any chance be able to recall when this started happening?

Also, it might sound trivial, but have you tried a complete reboot of your computer?

---

No chance! It's been a long time, over years.

Would you by any chance be able to recall when this started happening?

Also, it might sound trivial, but have you tried a complete reboot of your computer?

---

@Megan wrote:

Hey @avengerx, thanks for the added info! 

You mentioned this been happening for a long time, right? Would you by any chance be able to recall when this started happening?

Also, it might sound trivial, but have you tried a complete reboot of your computer?

---

I turned it on when I took the screenshots today. No telling how many reboots since the issue started.

I don't even remember how it was when it worked. It simply broke in an update and I just let it go as I didn't really use dropbox settings/interface. It only bothered me this time because it was not syncing and once I updated, it enabled some kind of online-only mode that was removing all local copies of files and I needed to switch it off in settings. (btw that was quite the intrusive change IMO -- albeit the app was saying it would keep only "new" files online, it was wiping clean a lot of files from my dropbox (not shared) during its first sync.

[Walter]

Thanks for the additional information @avengerx - much appreciated!

The issue can be resolved by making DPI scaling adjustments directly to the Dropbox application without making the change to your complete system.

Please follow the steps below to make these changes:
 

1. Open Windows File Explorer.
2. Copy and paste this file path in the search bar: C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client.
3. Right-click on the Dropbox application in this folder.
4. Select Properties.
5. Click the Compatibility tab.
6. Select Change high DPI settings.
7. Check the box labeled Override High DPI scaling behavior.
8. Click the drop down menu and ensure System (Enhanced) is selected.
9. Click Apply to save the changes.
10. Restart your device.
11. Open Dropbox from the system tray.

Let me know how it goes!

[avengerx]

Hello! It was so good and simple a solution I would totally love it... if it worked. 😅

At least my installation of Windows 7 -- and I had it when Windows Update rolled out (so I should have the latest of what it had to the time) doesn't fancy all those DPI settings you mentioned. All it has about DPI in the Compatibility tab is:

Compatibility tab for the Dropbox.exe properties.

The checked option didn't work over a restart of just dropbox or full reboot of the machine. Still the same in both screens.

By the way, I could see the previous version I had while browsing for the executable. It was 175.4.5569. It was no longer syncing, no error messages whatsoever, I simply updated and syncing started working again.

Just in case, that's a Windows 7 6.1, build 7601; 32-bit. Little Intel Atom CPU is, according to autoexec.bat & config.sys file dates, 15 years old in 6 days! Jun 10th, 2009.

There's maybe another way to disable this high-dpi-scaling rule if the Dropbox client obeys some Windows directive before choosing to look so spacey, I'll take a look over the internet, if you have the name of the technology or whatever the client looks up would save me lots of digging in procmon finding it out.

[avengerx]

I went to my windows 10 machine and did the steps as pointed. This resulted in my HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers entry for the Dropbox.exe file to contain ~ GDIDPISCALING DPIUNAWARE whereas the Windows 7 setting just sets HIGHDPIAWARE which also suggests the opposite effect I wanted. So I replaced Windows 7's registry, triple-checked for typos and... well, for no avail. So if Dropbox just considered windows 8+ DPI override settings, it looks like it's not enough to just force-set them on Windows 7.

I actually noticed the preferences windows being "slightly broken" in my main machine, now that I look at it closely! If you go to the last tab in Dropbox Preferences, Sync, you'll notice the contents outline is overflowing behind the window's viewport; so much that the scrollbar's bottom arrow is hidden behind it.

Check this screenshot with the window (which is not resizable) in its default width/height, Windows 10, 64-bit same Dropbox 200.4.7134:

Cut content in properties window, windows 10, 2560x1440 screen size, 100%DPI

And then, if I force resize the window to 620 pixels height, I can not only see the bottom of the white round "content box" but also the lower scrollbar.

Preferences dialog expanded to 640pixel height using AHK scripting

Notice, once the window is resized to 620 pixels, a lower round frame is visible in the white area. I believe this was once supposed to be visible. If I close and re-open the properties dialog, dropbox sets it back to 600 pixels, cropping the content.

This particular issue introduced between 175.4 and 200.4 should affect any Windows client probably using 100% DPI Scaling (96DPI). Perhaps this works correctly in high-dpi screens, like 4K displays where users would enable high-dpi desktop settings to be able to see anything in the screen.

The problem is "exagerated" in my Windows 7 install because the viewport has 600-taskbar_height pixels, thus the window size is limited to something around 550 pixels, and some settings (as well as main dropbox display) are cropped out of viewport.

I used this AHK script to manually resize the Properties dialog (it ignores any constraints):

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.

#IfWinActive ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1 ahk_exe Dropbox.exe
^#t::
 WinMove, A,, , , , 620

[avengerx]

Before you ask, I did try the compatibility setting you instructed in my main, windows 10 machine. It made absolutely no difference.