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Forum Discussion
Dropbox options missing in right-click menu on Windows
Hi guys,
today, probably after downloading and installing latest stable release a Dropbox, the context menu disappeared from Windows Explorer.
Dropbox version: 183.4.7058
Windows 10 ver...
Hi all,
Jumping in here, as our team would like to share some insights that may be helpful:
This issue may be related to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your Operating System.If you are on Windows, please note that Windows has a limit of 15 overlay icons that Windows Explorer can load, and the operating system reserves 4 for its own use.
If there are more than 15, then the Dropbox icons or context menus may not show. To fix this and move the Dropbox sync icons to the first 15 positions:1. Follow the steps in the following article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also):
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-open-registry-editor-in-windows-10-deab38e6-91d6-e0aa-4b7c-8878d9e07b11
2. A “Registry Editor” window will open.
3. Navigate through the following folders: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “CurrentVersion” > “Explorer” > “ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers”.
4. Rename (right-click and click Rename) the files, so that the Dropbox files appear in the first 15 files in the list. You can do this by putting spaces in front of those file names, so that they move higher up in the list.
5. Close and restart both of your computer and the Dropbox desktop app.
Thank you,
Sam
Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey Persi, I'd be more than happy to help you with that!
As a first step, would you like to share your OS, and Dropbox version with me?
I'd also love to know what troubleshooting steps you tried on your end, in order for me to have a visual and guide you.
Thanks a bunch!
Hi Megan , I have onboarded a new Employee in France. We installed Dropbox on her Windows 10. Version 22H2, Build 19045.4046, Pack 1000.19053.1000.0
We had so many issues that it is currently not possible to work for this person.
1) Main issue is that we do not see the Folder/File Context menu on right click. I have re-started the explorer.exe, and also checked the Online Dropbox Account settings for context menu.
2) We do not see several Sub-Folder in our Desktop Client, but we see them in the browser. so there is a miss-match of files and synchronization. I checked all Client sync settings - all folders a selected. Client says it's up to date.
I work a lot with Dropbox onboarding and settings, but this experience on Windows is terrible. I only know such terrible quality from other Services like OneDrive or tresorit so far, but from Dropbox it is a surprise.
- Megan
Hi Persi, troubleshooting on someone's behalf can be quite tricky, but I'll try to help as much as possible.
Now, in regards to the context menu: has your employee recently updated their OS by any chance?
I also suggest following the steps our Community Manager shared in this thread.
As for the second issue, since the app is up-to-date and you checked the selective sync settings of the app, can you also check and make sure there are no invalid characters preventing the files/folders from syncing?
- Hi Megan
Yes, Windows does automatic Updates, so there was and will be updates all the time.
The name of the Folder is „Container“ so there is no invalid character I assume.
From what I see there are no other overlay items, so 15 surely not. I can try this step, pretty sure it will not help.- Walter
Hey Persi - sorry to jump in here, but could you clarify if there are any 3rd party apps (like antivirus, security programs or services that monitor the files in the Dropbox folder) running on the problematic computer?
Also, could you send us a screenshot of the options you get when you right click on the files in the Dropbox folder?
