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Help renaming the My Mac (computer name.local) folder

ginderg

Hi, how do i reduce the characters in the name given to to the backup folder "My Mac (macminis-Mac-mini.local)" because I am unable to open some documents as the app I want to use cannot handle paths with components that are too long.

I tried changing my computer name in Apples system preferences but that has not made a difference, so it seems this original name in brackets was stored after the first sync, so there could be some preference or settings file I can change?

I have tried turning off the backup option and that clears out all the folders for My Mac however when I turn on the backup feature they re-appear with the long name in brackets rather than the shorter name given to my mac.

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ginderg

Ok, I managed to work around the problem by unlinking Dropbox first then linking it again, now its picked up the new computer name.

However this is not the best solution, Dropbox should allow users to edit the name as required as it took a while to sync my information again, it would have been quicker with a preference setting somewhere.

dubstepic

Hi Ginderg!

Could you please explain how you did unlink Dropbox and then link it again without breaking things? I'm having the same issue.

Thanks!

Megan

Hey @ginderg and @dubstepic!

@ginderg amazing ****** on the troubleshooting there. I have to admit, I'm impressed!

Happy to see that your issue is resolved for now! If you need anything else, don't hesitate to give me a shout.

Also, @dubstepic can you clarify, if you simply want to unlink your Dropbox desktop application or disable the Computer Backup feature?

Let me know!

dubstepic

Hi @Megan!

Ideally I'd like to keep the backup folder but rename it to a more code friendly name (ie: no spaces nor special characters in the name) Instead of the default name "My Mac (computerName)"

Is this at all possible?

Thanks

Megan

Hey @dubstepic, thanks for letting me know more about this!

You wouldn't be able to rename the folder, since it's automatically named after the device you're using when enabling the feature.

However another alternative would be for you to disable the feature, unlink your Dropbox desktop application, rename your device, and then link the app back.

Keep in mind, that this process might cause some files to re-sync.

Would you want to try this?

Let me know of any updates.

olibclarke

Hi @Lori,

I would like to try this too - having spaces in file names causes problems for a number of scripts and command line utilies. To be clear though, will this rename the backup folder to, for example, "My_new_computer_name"? Or will it still be in the form "My Mac (My_new_computer_name)"? Because it is the spaces that are a problem, so if this doesn't remove them I don't want to try it.

Cheers

Oli

ShaneRe

Having same issue, I wanted to link 3 computers and upgrade the computer names. Unfortunately I now have 3 saved mac's with old long names that don't exist anymore. It would be nice if my mac's could not only share, but also adding a simple user friendly directory name change and associated computer. The renaming issue is a flaw in the backup feature if it does not update when you rename your mac IMHO and I will likely roll back to time machine as a safer option if not fixed by dropbox.

ELaren

It would have been nice if this link was included in this thread. It would've saved me 45 minutes of searching around why unlinking and confirming my computer name wasn't resolving my folder being labeled "PC (2)"

geisery

Hi ELaren,

So if I understand this correctly, they now even removed this weird workaround to change the computername by unlinking and relinking it? I‘m stuck with Mac(2), too! My other machine has a diffrent name, since it was named before that change…

Really unprofessional for a backup service that costs over 10$ per month 😞

olarra

According to Dropbox support, there is currently no way to rename MacOs folder:

"Computer Backup naming convention has been updated. With the new naming convention, the first connected device will be called ‘Mac’ or ‘PC’. All following devices connected will be labelled as 'Mac (2)', 'Mac (3)' (or 'PC', 'PC (2)')

The old naming convention was "My Mac (Device Name)" or “My PC (Device Name)”.

We had changed the naming convention as the previous naming convention was too long. This pushed many users closer to path length limits that some apps on Windows encounter. This new convention reduces the impact of this issue.

This is because the computer back up still recognizes that there was previously a back up enabled. If you set up a 3rd Mac, even with both previous devices unlinked, this would then be assigned Mac (3)."

For me the problem is that I changed of computer, I had previously unlik MacFolder so it was transformed into a normal folder on dropbox and then I renamed it. Then I sync my new Mac and I had as a result a Mac(2) (no code friendly) folder. I even completely deleted the first Mac folder, then unlink current one and re-sync it, but nothing seems to work.

Dropbox support confirmed that it doesn't matter if previous Mac folders are deleted, their system will keep detecting them so I'll never have a Mac folder with a short name again. This is very frustrating and just unacceptable from a service with that kind of pricing. Specially when clients have request the possibility of rename the folder by their own since 2020.

How ****** could it be to add just a rename folder feature?

cpate9

I agree, this is totally unacceptable. And makes accessing any files via terminal a total pain.