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Dropbox Syncing Without My Permission

Hi! I am running into a potential problem with Dropbox. When I started up my Windows 10 PC this evening, the Dropbox desktop app on my screen immediately started syncing, even though I had not prompted it to do so. I quickly clicked "Pause syncing", and then selected "Indefinitely". Now, the Dropbox desktop app on the lower right corner of my screen has a little yellow circle on it with a pair of vertical lines indicating that syncing has paused and is still in pause mode. I want to do a reset so that the app will no longer be in pause mode, but I do not want it to resume syncing, either. How do I do this?

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Jay

The Dropbox desktop application would only sync other computer folders (namely Desktop, Documents and Downloads) if you enabled the computer backup feature.

If it's disabled, all that would be synced are the files in the Dropbox folder itself. It doesn't sync your entire computer, as this feature isn't available on Dropbox.

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Walter

Hey @Cendrillon; thanks for posting on our Community and happy Friday!

To directly get to the chase, instead of pausing the syncing process, you can quit the app instead.

For future reference, if you don't want the desktop app to automatically start upon booting your computer, you can turn the relevant option off through the app's preferences.

Let me know if this helped!

Cendrillon

Hi, Walter! Thank you so much for your reply! I followed your advice. I first went to the desktop app Preferences and made sure that "Start Dropbox on system startup" and "Open the desktop app when starting Dropbox" were unchecked. Then, I quit Dropbox.

Being the experimenter I am, I reopened the Dropbox desktop app to ensure that I had done everything necessary, but the little yellow circle with the pair of lines is still there. How do I do a reset so that my Dropbox desktop app isn't going to forever be in "Pause syncing" mode?

Jay

Hi @Cendrillon, you could resume syncing in the desktop app, and then immediately quit the app.

This way the only way files will sync to your account is when the app is running.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you don't want the app to sync automatically, and only when you choose to have the app running?

Cendrillon

Hi, Jay! Thanks for joining the thread! Yes, there is a reason I don't want the app to sync automatically, and only when I run the app. The simple reason is, I only have the basic account with 2GB capacity, so I don't want the app to sync my entire computer automatically. I am taking an online GIS course, and I am going to be creating some GIS documents. I only want to back up my GIS documents to Dropbox. I don't want my entire computer backed up to Dropbox. So I will sync my GIS files to Dropbox when I am ready. When I'm not deliberately syncing files to Dropbox, I would prefer the app to be shut down and not syncing, if that makes any sense. I am still very new to Dropbox and syncing services in general and am not 100% clear on how it works. 😕

Jay

Cendrillon

Oh, OK. That makes sense now. Thank you, Jay! 🙂

Jay

Not a problem, @Cendrillon, if you need any more details, feel free to message back.

Enjoy your week!

EFN

Hi Jay,

I'm also having this issue.

I never gave dropbox permission to start accessing and syncing the files on my Macbook so it is just appalling that it would automatically just do it by default straight out of the gates. I'm this close to flicking dropbox for iCloud, even though I've been using and enjoying dropbox for years.

I'll explain the situation just so we all have some context for others as I'd be very surprised if a heap of people aren't having the same issue.

Recently my iMac motherboard failed and I've purchased a new M1 Apple MacBook Air. After manually transferring my docs and other files over, I've started downloading and installing apps that I commonly use from scratch. Enter Dropbox.

After installing it and signing in, all of a sudden it is syncing all of the folders and files on my Mac! Folders that it is helping its self to include: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Movies. And not only that, the syncing is apparently going to continue for the next two days!

Seriously WTF. And how dare Dropbox do this by default. This is an assault on our time and seems to be purposefully sneaky given that the solutions is hidden away behind several steps within the preferences.

After finding and reading this thread, I followed the said steps. However when I uncheck the folders within the "Back up your Mac automatically" page, and then click Save, then check "Keep content in folders on the Mac" (another very vague and misleading way of representing the options) and then clicking Stop backup, it then comes up with error messages beside the folders saying in red: "Couldn't stop backup"

GRRRRRR!!!!

So I tried pausing syncing and trying again... But then it comes up with the error message "Syncing is paused", greying out the entire page and rendering it unresponsive unless I click on "Resume syncing"

So with these steps repeated over and over just to make sure there's nothing I've missed, and several loud curses later, I can only assume we must need to wait for the syncing to finish and stop on it's own accord, before having the functional access to opt out of this "Back up you Mac automatically" feature. A feature that your company thinks is ok to force on its users without prior notification.

Am I missing anything?

EFN

Update to my previous complaint:

I returned from an outing (had left dropbox to continue syncing even though I never wanted it to) and when I get back, surprise surprise... Dropbox had stopped syncing. Not because it had listened to me and stopped the backup "feature" setting, no.. Nope it had stopped because I had run out of storage space and now need to upgrade!

Wow what a fkn disgrace.

I also went into the settings to try, AGAIN, to uncheck and save the sync folders and low and behold, the same error message comes up: "Syncing is paused" with the window greyed out and unresponsive. I'm prompted to resume syncing, only if I do, I am prompted to pay for an upgrade. An upgrade I don't need.

All I want are a couple of folders I can use to hand off files between my iPhone and MacBook. That's all.

Never have I ever wanted a complete backup by a company I never gave permission to access my personal files.

PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!

EFN

Continuing the Dropbox saga..

After shutting down the computer again to have a break from the frustration, I returned and decided it would be a good idea to uninstall and reinstall Dropbox.

Once I had done this I noticed two of the main folders, Desktop and Downloads had been corrupted and no longer existed in their original form. Wow and I thought it couldn't get any worse.

So now what I'm going to do is completely wipe my MacBook to factory settings and start again so as not to be concerned about the directory being compromised.

I'm going to give Dropbox one more chance but I'll try a work around:

According to Dropbox support, all we need to do is to turn off the automatic backup "feature" in settings. However it locks us into a catch-22 situation as once the syncing starts, there's no way to change those settings without paying for the upgraded storage plan with Dropbox, if the files within the syncing folders exceed the free Dropbox storage cap.

So what if the files within my MacBook folders are empty and don't exceed the free Dropbox storage cap?

You can see where I'm going.. Once I wipe and reformat my MacBook I'll attempt to install Dropbox straight away. That way when the default forced syncing starts and prevents the auto backup "feature" from being able to be turned off, theoretically it will not take long and not exceed the limit, therefor not forcing me through a paywall.

And hopefully once the initial forced sync is over, I can then change the settings, removing this (unwanted by pretty much everyone) "feature" once and for all. And maybe I'll then have the actual feature I'm requiring, a common folder to handoff files between my Mac and iPhone.

Fingers crossed! Here we go...

jasonspiano

I've hit preferences, I go to 'back-up' and everything is UNchecked- I try hitting the 'backup downloads' and it says I don't have permission. I want DB to STOP saving certain PC files- but how can I if it's already unchecked? I keep erasing this PC folder it's making automatically, yet it still comes back whenever I download something, and saves it to my DB- again, NOTHING in backup is checked. All blank boxes...

Walter

Hey @jasonspiano, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

When you say you don't have permission, can you send us a screenshot of the exact error you're getting so that we can have a look too?

Also, do you see any backed up folders on your backups page?

jasonspiano

Hannah

Hey @jasonspiano, do you have admin privileges on the PC?

pppfit

I have been having same problem on Mac 14.3. My Dropbox is unable to put icon in menu bar. DB says it is corrupted Dropbox has hijacked desktop and documents. I cannot download them back to my computer because I do not have permission. I am sole owner/administrator. When I get one item downloaded it comes as read only. Desktop & Docs are in deleted files and I cannot download them .

pppfit

DB also appears to have hijacked my desktop and docs file from my Mac running Sonoma 14.3., MY DB app was not working so per emailed instructions I downloaded fresh copy after dumping previous db desktop app. NO luck. No icon in menu bar so no access to preferences. It gets worse. My files are in db deleted. According to db I do not have permission to download my files from deleted. Again emailed to db support. Anyone else have the download permission problem? Or the problem that any dowloaded file becomes "read only?"

pppfit

DB had my desktop and doc files in "deleted files " but I could not download them because I do not have "sufficient permissions" . A fresh new db app does not appear to work.

I am unable to solve the problem by getting 1 question or 1 suggestion every 24 hours. DB has all of my desktop and doc files and I have none left on my computer. I have been a db user for more than 10 years. This db is not working on Sonoma 14.3 for my computer. Please tell me how to get my files back to my computer.

Hannah

Hey @pppfit, sorry to see that you're having this issue.

To download your files, if they are currently deleted, you'll need to first restore them; are you having trouble restoring them?

Also, can you please give us the ticket number for your communication with our support team, so we can look into it as well?