Alias Folders

[paulpeterson]

I had to re-sync Dropbox recently and when I sync the app on my iMac Dropbox creates locked alias folders for Desktop, Downloads and Documents. Do I have to wait for the files to sync and the localize the files from Desktop, Downloads and Documents?

I want these folders to be on my local computer not aliases that link to Dropbox

[Hannah]

Hey @paulpeterson, thanks for posting on our Community today!

It seems that when you re-synced the Dropbox application, you enabled the computer backup feature.

If you don't want these desktop folders to be backed up to Dropbox, you can disable it by following the steps here.

Just make sure that syncing is finished before you disable the feature.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[paulpeterson]

Thanks for your response @hannah 

I definitely do want these backed up to Dropbox but not sure like with other Dropbox folders that are backed up they are alias folders and not local folders?

[Hannah]

Oh, it's great that you'd like the desktop folders to be backed up!

And that's kind of how the backup feature works. 

Your actual desktop folders are in your Dropbox folder and the original folders serve as shortcuts to the folders in the Dropbox folder. 

If you ever want to disable the feature and move the folders back to their original locations, you can follow the steps in the article I gave you above. 

[paulpeterson]

Thanks 🙂

I am still confused by this - that u can't have the OG files and still update to Dropbox. 

If I logout of Dropbox or am not online where are the files to these folders - they should display on the computer not as alias folders

[Hannah]

Thanks for the feedback about this, Paul, I will definitely pass it along.

As for the files, they are still on your computer, they're just in Dropbox. So, even if you're offline, you can still access them from there.

[paulpeterson]

I think the problem is that I need a duplicate back up of my files.

So there is a copy on the computer and a copy on Dropbox.

At the moment there is only a copy on Dropbox.

If I back up to a hard drive that is synced and a duplicate copy.

How can I achieve this with Dropbox Sync?

[Hannah]

At the moment, with computer backup, the files can only exist on one location on the specific drive.

You could make a copy of your desktop files on a different drive, however, they won't sync with Dropbox. 

You're welcome to post an idea about this on our idea board!

[paulpeterson]

Could you also explain why folders don't show up on the Dropbox Mac folder?

I have 2 x Mac's synced and they don't show up. I have an internet connection and everything is synced and up to date in Dropbox ( I can see all the files in there.

[Hannah]

You mean that when you open your Dropbox folder, you don't see a "Mac" or "My Mac" folder at all?

Or do they exist, but they don't have your desktop files in them?