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Forum Discussion
Not seeing my backups on other devices, after updating the Backup feature
Dear All.
I have been using Dropbox for over a decade. It would always sync my desktop in such a way that I was able to access any file from my desktop on any of my other devices, including p...
Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey Roroboo, the only way for you to achieve what you're describing is with the use of our Backup feature.
It does essentially what you wish to do: sync your Downloads, Desktop and Documents to Dropbox, and then to any other devices you may have.
KerriKendall990 I completely agree, this happened to me a few days ago and its super frustrating as I’ve lost a way of using Dropbox that I’ve used for almost 15 years.
Megan so the thing I noticed with the backup feature is that it backs up my desktop to Dropbox backup but that it disappears from my other devices. My phone, iPad and other laptop are not able to sync with Dropbox backup. If i try to go to Dropbox backup on my iPad right now It wont even let me access that website.
So although my laptop can back up my desktop to ‘Dropbox backup’ it’s essentially cut off from my mobile devices.
Can we not have our desktop synced to Dropbox like it always used to be?
Thank you
- Nancy
Can you please clarify what you mean when saying you can't access the Dropbox website on your iPad? Are you unable to access the website in general, or just the Backups page?
Nancy So I can access the backups page on my iPad via the URL you sent.
However there is no way to access that backup page via the native Dropbox app on iPhone or iPad or even Mac or PC. So then the only way is using a web browser which is not intuitive. As Ravip mentioned, it does mess up an established workflow we’ve had for years and even decades and there seems no way to revert back to the traditional Dropbox behavior.
Maybe if Dropbox can access the ‘backups’ natively on the mobile apps that could possibly work but even that is not possible right now (unless we use a web browser)
- Rich
Super User II
The old backup feature wasn't really a backup. All it did was move your key folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads) into the Dropbox folder so they could sync. There was no true backup. It was just another folder syncing like any other. The new backup doesn't work that way and is closer to a real backup system.
It's easy enough to replicate the old method. Just move your Desktop (or other) folder into the Dropbox folder using whatever mechanism your operating system has to relocate such folders. For instance, in Windows, if you look at the Properties of the Desktop folder (or any other key folder) you'll see a Location tab. On that tab is a Move button that allows you to move the folder to a new location. Use that feature to move the folder into your Dropbox folder and it will sync just like it used to.
Hi Rich
I have exactly the same problem, I clicked on the link and it completely changed my workflow, I now cannot easily share links from my desktop (as it has to upload every time). If I do as you say above will that still ensure that I have full offline access to my files and does this mean that I then have
i) A Backup Folder in one location
ii) My content/files in another location that I can use as before
ii) There are no conflicts between the two...
many thanks
Dan
Ok this works and apart from now having a duplicate, up to date files are now accessible from other devices etc.
Hello, I may have missed something in the thread but would somebody be able to point me towards how to re-instate this feature (Christo, I see that you said 'this works' but I couldn't see what 'this' is.
Many thanks in advance for your help, Like everyone on this thread I do not understand what this was implemented in this way and with absolutely no warning/release notes etc...
all my best
Dan
There's a reply on page 2 by Rich that explains how to do it. It's not perfect but better than the rubbish dropbox left us with
Thanks Christo, much appreciated. Hopefully Dropbox will sort this out but.......
all my best
Dan
