Reinstallation of Dropbox after clean install of OS, without Re-downloading all files

[Sandhu]

Dear Community 

Greetings,

I had to make a clean install of Mac OS, prior to which i copied all my dropbox folder to an external HD. 

I need to reinstall/download the dropbox on my machine but I want to avoid downloading all the files through internet again, as i already have them in my external HD. 

Is it possible to copy all the dropbox content back into the new dropbox folder offline, and when I go online, dropbox only syncs new changes made during the period it was uninstalled from the machine. I do not want a selective sync in particular, but i want that after reinstallation all my contents are updated via offline copying, and at the same time, the dropbox is synced to catch new changes.

The goal is to save downloading time and internet cost for downloading huge data. 

It does not making sense for me that dropbox download all the contents again from the server to my machine,

kindly suggest. 

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Hey there @Sandhu - how are you today?

As you wish to re-install our desktop app and you do not want to re-download all of your files from the server, you need to choose the "Advanced" setup option during the installation process. Then you need to choose the parent folder of the existing Dropbox folder as the location for this new install.

For instance, if your old Dropbox folder was added to: C:\Desktop\Dropbox you would need to choose C:\Desktop and the client will try and create a new Dropbox folder. As you'd be connecting with the same Dropbox account as before, Dropbox will detect the existing folder and will then prompt you to merge the Dropbox folder. Upon merging the desktop version of Dropbox will check the existing files and the server versions and update accordingly.

 Please do note that any changes made to the files in the Dropbox folder or on the web interface while the folder was "offline" will generate conflicted copies.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions. 

[Sandhu]

Hi Walter 

thank you very much for a prompt response. I appreaite it. I have one more querry. What shall i do with the conflicted copies? Ultimately the latest one is needed, so each one has to be deleted manually ?

regards

[Walter]

The best way would be to compare them first and then delete the ones you don't need - just to be on the safe side @Sandhu! 

Let me know if you need anything else and thanks for your swift reply.

[Sandhu]

Dear Walter,

followinf your suggestion, i got the message that there exist some conflict of the destination folder (my already copied dropbox folder located in the documents directoruy) with icloud. 

Can you assist on this.

[Walter]

Can you share a screenshot of the exact message @Sandhu? 

[Sandhu]

I will share in the next message,

reading on the forum i get the following reasons 

Conflicting sync icons will appear when each of the following three criteria are true:

1. You have iCloud enabled on your computer.
2. You have synced the Desktop or Documents folder to iCloud.
3. You have moved your Dropbox folder to either the Desktop or Documents folder.

i think 3 is the reason, as i moved my old dropbox folder into the documetns folder

[Sandhu]

@walter

please see the image, the problem persists 

[Walter]

Hey @Sandhu - thanks for the updates. How are you today?

As I am not able to see your last screenshot, would you mind sending it again?

In any case, it looks like you're trying to backup the Dropbox folder using iCloud. It is not possible for us to offer support or suggestions when using iCloud.

You can use more than one cloud service if they are independent and working on separate folders. Dropbox will sync only the files in the Dropbox folder.

Should you wish to backup the Dropbox folder using iCloud, please reach out to Apple support.

To learn more about Dropbox and the latest versions of macOS, please visit this Help Center article while you can also see a list of our currently supported operating systems here.

I hope this helps to some extent and let me know what you find please. 

[ryan l.5]

It created a Dropbox (old) folder for me than downloaded every single but of 400GB back into the new folder, super efficient