Curious about A, B, C, and D drives? Learn what they mean and how to use them effectively with Dropbox in this handy guide! - check it out now!

Forum Discussion

enjayare's avatar
enjayare
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago
Solved

Locked folder that can't be removed?

Hello Forum members,

I have a folder that was sent to me by a client a couple of years ago that I can't remove from my Dropbox. The folder has a grey padlock on the bottom left corner and also an X in a red circle on the bottom right corner - see screen shot. I am using a Mac with OS Mojave 10.14.6

Can anyone advise how to remove this folder as I dont have authority to unlock it.

 

Delete
restore
sync
  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    6 years ago

    enjayare, may be something else have happened. Probably immutable flag have been set. If so, you can trow it out using: "sudo chflags nouchg /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee" and/or "sudo chflags noschg /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee". Try it, just to be sure.

    Finally give the result from "ls -lO /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee" or just take a look on get info window to check is "Locked" is still checked.

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Hey enjayare, thanks for the screenshot, definitely provides a better understanding of your concern.

    In general, the red circle with the x means that something is wrong, and Dropbox isn’t syncing this folder. 

    For this reason, could you please check if the desktop app is running by locating the Dropbox icon that should be next to your computer's clock?

    If you don't find it, it means that the desktop app isn't running and thus not syncing. In this case, please manually relaunch it from your applications menu. 

    If you do see it, could you please send me a screenshot (without any personal info) of what it reads when you hover over it?

    Let me know how it goes!

      • Здравко's avatar
        Здравко
        Legendary | Level 20
        6 years ago

        Hi enjayare,

        The problem is not in the application. Seems you have changed access rights to that folder (probably by mistake). Fix the permissions (through folder settings) and lets hope everything will be fine. :wink:

        Hope this helps.

  • ARGPVA's avatar
    ARGPVA
    Explorer | Level 3
    5 years ago

    Hi - I have 3 locked folders on my Mac desktop that are no longer on Dropbox.com. I can't delete them - even with Terminal - and they have been synching for months. I've already uninstalled and re-installed Dropbox. Any ideas for deleting the folders from my desktop?

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      5 years ago

      Hi ARGPVA, thanks for messaging today!

       

      Are these files locked by the OS, and are you able to unlock in the Finder settings?

       

      Could you forward a screenshot of the folders in Finder, and also what you see when you use ‘Get info’ on one of the folders.

       

      Keep me posted!

      • ARGPVA's avatar
        ARGPVA
        Explorer | Level 3
        5 years ago

        Hi, thanks for the reponse. No they don't seem to be locked by the OS. When I open up info for the folder on Finder, I don't have the option of unlocking it.

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!

Recent Discussions