Orange Minus what does the icon mean?

[JWMS]

Hello-

A couple of days ago, my Dropbox files suddently had an orange minus sign and the content was unavailable. I Googled the symbol, and uninstalled OneDrive---without success. This may be associated with a problem I've had since starting Dropbox---I seem to have two accounts. When I Iog into Dropbox.com, I get one set of a few folders that I almost never use; that also happens after clearing my Firefox cache.  On my file manager, when I save files, they go to a different Dropbox location that I can't access using Dropbox.com.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[JWMS]

Thanks, Megan-

Current status is shown below:

[Removed as per Community Guidelines]

Files shown locally are:

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Files from online are shown below---however, they are the same as the local ones and they are not what I want....

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These are the files that I routinely use that are on my computer and also on Dropbox:

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Here is a screenshot when I search for a particular file:

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Hope all of this is helpful !

Thanks,  JWMS

[Jay]

HI @JWMS, I've removed all your images since they contain a lot of personal and confidential information.

It looks like you have enabled the Dropbox Backup feature, since the Documents folder appears to be in your account and syncing. You can view the backup on this page.

Just to check, is this the account you want to sync with your desktop, or do you have another account with more files in it?

[JWMS]

Thanks--and thanks for removing my personal information.  The files I saw when I clicked on the "this page" in your note are indeed what I want to keep. However, when I open my account on dropbox.com, or click on Dropbox in File Explorer, I get a different set of files, which I do not want. Could you please delete (or guide me to delete) the account that has those files, and help me get to the files shown in "this page" when I go to Dropbox?

Thanks!JWMS

[Megan]

Hi @JWMS, let me make sure we're on the same page here. 

First of all, keep in mind that if you delete your Dropbox account, your Backup will also get deleted. 

It's not entirely clear to me if you wish to delete all of your other files, and keep your Backup. Is that what you wish to achieve? 

If you access your account online, and you click under PC < Documents, are you able to see the content you need there? 

[JWMS]

Thanks, Megan-  We are getting there. When I go to dropbox.com, I see a new folder that is "PC-New location" and that folder has all the files I have been trying to access. I don't need to delete any accounts.

However, File Manager on my PC doesn't seem to have that folder.  A screenshot is given below.   On that screenshot, I've been saving my files on the top of the three "Documents" locations---is that the correct thing to do and does it make a difference?

[Jay]

Could you attach a screenshot showing the place you saw this PC on the site? Is it on the Backups page?

[JWMS]

Thanks-

This is an overall screenshot when I go to dropbox.com

This is the screenshot when I click on the "backups page" screenshot you sent. When I click on the PC icon, I do get the all the files I'm looking for.

I appreciate the help. Thanks, JWMS

[Walter]

Hey @JWMS, sorry to jump in here, but I wanted to clarify that your first screenshot shows the contents of your Dropbox folder which is syncing with the website as you see while the second screenshot shows your backed up files. 

The first set of files are the ones that are syncing in your Dropbox folder and you can work on them in your Dropbox folder to have the changes sync across all your connected devices and the website too. 

The second set of files are your backed up files which are a static copy of the files as they were when you first backed them up until you choose to manually update them. 

The real question here would be; what are you looking to achieve here?  Back your files up to Dropbox or have them syncing via the Dropbox apps and website? 

[JWMS]

Thanks, Walter-

I want Sync---------I've looked at several tutorials and it seems I automatically get backup on the files I've chosen to sync??? Backup would only be used for other files that are static that I don't need to sync -- such as my Desktop?

What's confusing me is that, when I select the Documents (highlighted in the snip below) to file a document, I get everything I want, and I get that same material when I go to dropbox.com and select the "PC" file, (but the heading says "PC Backup").  When I select Dropbox in the snip below, I get the subset that is old material I do not need and the desired files are not there - it is just the static backup.  My solution has been to never place files in Dropbox, just in Documents in the snip. Would it be best if I just deleted the Dropbox in that snip?

Related:  When I search for a file on my computer, I seem to have the file and a backup---see below. Does that mean I'm doing both Backup and Sync?

And- on Dropbox on-line, when I select in the list of files, the header says "PC backup".

Sorry for all my confusion   JWMS

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @JWMS, jumping in here as well, I hope that's okay!

Deleting the Dropbox folder from your snippet above, would cause your Dropbox folder to be deleted and along with it, all your Dropbox files and the backed up files, so please refrain from doing that.

If the files in your Dropbox folder are old and useless to you, you're welcome to delete those ones, and the deletion will sync to your account on dropbox.com.

But now, what needs to be done is basically up to you.

Do you want your desktop files to be backed up to Dropbox, so you can access a static copy on dropbox.com?

Or do you want to sync them? If you sync them, you'll be able to access and edit them both from your Dropbox folder and dropbox.com, whereas with Backup, you can just view them on dropbox.com, but not edit them.

If you'd like to sync them, they'll need to be added to your Dropbox folder, outside the PC folder.

To be safe, if you want to do this, I would suggest disabling the backup, so that your desktop folders are moved back to their original locations on your computer.

And then, you can move only the files you want to the Dropbox folder, to sync them to your account.

It's up to you, but I hope this helps!