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There are no green check-marks on any files in my Dropbox folder on Windows 10.

This is a Windows 10 machine.

I have tried quitting and restarting the dropbox app.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

I am viewing the correct folder -- I clicked the folder icon on the dropbox app.

My other machine, a laptop with Win 11 on it shows the green checkmarks properly.

It would be nice to have these checkmarks so I can see at a glance if a file is synced or not, rather than opening the app and hunting through the sync history.

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Accepted answers

Walter

Hi again @Iainmcc - thanks for the screenshots and the additional details - most appreciated!

This issue might be coming down to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your computer's OS.

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 this article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also)

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.

Let me know how it goes!

All comments

Hannah

Hey @Iainmcc, thanks for letting us know about this.

Have you checked if the application is running on your computer? Does it sync as normal?

What's the sync status and version of the app, when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your system tray?

Lastly, do you perhaps have any third party file browsers?

Let me know what you find.

Iainmcc

The application is running and syncs as normal.

The version is 147.3.4786, and says it's up to date.

I don't have any third party browsers, just Windows Explorer.

Megan

Hi @Iainmcc, sorry to jump in here!

It sounds as if you're using the Beta version of our app. Can you access your account's settings on the Dropbox website and turn Early releases off?

After that, please re-install one of the stable builds of the Dropbox application.

Let me know how that goes.

Iainmcc

Hi @Megan,

Early Releases was already off so I should never have received a beta version, as far as I know...

When I tried reinstalling before, I just selected "Install Dropbox App" from the menu hanging off my avatar (the menu with settings, install, sign out, etc).

I note my Win11 laptop (which is working fine) has version 146.4.4836 installed.

I'll try your link and see if it gets me a non-beta version. BTW, how do I tell if the version I'm using is beta or release?

Walter

Hey @Iainmcc, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to clarify that the beta versions are denoted by their middle digit.

For example, 147.3.4786 is a beta version of our desktop app while 146.4.4836 is part of our stable builds.

While we're at it, note that a more recent stable version just got out (v. 147.4.800), so feel free to install it from this page.

Keep us posted with any updates!

Iainmcc

Ok, guys,

I've installed 147.4.4800 on the machine and still have no green checkmarks on any files or folders after a reboot.

Megan

Hi @Iainmcc, interesting.

Would you mind sharing a screenshot with me, so I can have a visual of what you also see on your end?

Iainmcc

Hi @Megan,

Here's a couple of screenshots -- one from my laptop which is working, and one from my desktop which is not working.

From the laptop:

The green circles with white checkmarks on the bottom left of every icon is what I expect to see.

Here's what I see on the desktop:

Notice there are no green circles with white checkmarks in them on any icon. I don't get the blue-with-two-circling-arrows decoration when a file is syncing either.

Hope that helps.

Thanks

Walter

Hi again @Iainmcc - thanks for the screenshots and the additional details - most appreciated!

This issue might be coming down to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your computer's OS.

To fix this and move the Dropbox sync icons to the first 15 positions:

1. Follow the steps in this article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also)

2. A “Registry Editor” window will open.

3. Navigate through the following folders:

“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “CurrentVersion” > “Explorer” > “ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers”

5. Close and restart both of your computer and the Dropbox desktop app.

Let me know how it goes!

Iainmcc

Thanks, @Walter,

That did it! I was reminded that this happened when I moved my Windows installation from HDD to SDD. I used Acronis (a free 5-year license came with the SDD). In the registry, I found that Acronis had put its own entries in there, so I had Onedrive (7), Acronis (4), then Dropbox.

So I renamed things so that Dropbox's 10 entries come first, restarted Explorer and the Dropbox app, and the overlays came back.

Thank you very much, guys, for all your help.

Walter

Thanks for keeping us in the loop @Iainmcc - we're glad to hear it's sorted now.

See you around the Community and have a lovely weekend ahead!