Why are Dropbox files regularly copying to my desktop?

[yesthatsandra]

Why are Dropbox files regularly copying to my desktop? Even files I delete.

[Hannah]

Hey there, @yesthatsandra, thanks for posting to our Community.

When you say that Dropbox is copying files to your desktop, can you please clarify what you mean a bit?

Do you mean that files already inside your Dropbox folder, get copied over to your computer's Desktop folder as well?

Or simply that your Dropbox files, apart from the website, also reside in your computer's hard drive?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

[yesthatsandra]

Yes, files already in my Dropbox folder get copied to my desktop. It has happened more than once on what feels like a regular basis. Maybe once every two weeks? I haven't tracked the timing yet. I delete them or move them back to the Dropbox folder then ?two weeks later they show up on my desktop again!

[Nancy]

@yesthatsandra, can you send a screenshot of a file that’s showing in your Dropbox folder and which has also been copied over to your local device?

Are you taking any actions on Dropbox, right before this starts?

Are these files backed up with Dropbox Backup, by any chance?

[yesthatsandra]

Hi. Here is a screenshot of my desktop. The copy over happened this morning, so these are files that were in my Dropbox that copies onto my desktop and I deleted--and they've shown up again.

I was not using Dropbox just before this copy happened. I'm not sure I'm using Dropbox Backup or not. I can't seem to open the Dropbox app--I'm not sure why. I have a shortcut on my desktop that I use to access files I need. When I try to open the App itself the try times out and nothing happens. Maybe this is significant?

Thanks for your help.

[Walter]

Hey @yesthatsandra - does the issue with the app persist after rebooting your computer?

Also, do you see any folders or files being backed up in your backups page? 

[yesthatsandra]

Yes, the same thing happens after rebooting.

I don't see any files in my backups page.

[yesthatsandra]

I notice a warning and saw this when clicking on "item needs your review":

When I click on that folder I get:

I can't see what to do from here to fix the problem. Looks like all i can do is delete these files, but I'm not sure I want to do that.

[yesthatsandra]

Does this help?

[Walter]

Thanks for the screenshots @yesthatsandra - much appreciated. 

Could you click on the Dropbox icon in your system tray and let me know the app's exact status and version now, after rebooting your computer?