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Unable to delete the Dropbox folder from File Explorer, after uninstalling Dropbox desktop app

Hello

I decided I no longer want to use Dropbox as my cloud storage service and in this process uninstalled Dropbox Desktop from my computer.

But I don't seem to be able to. The folder changes it's icon, after uninstalling Dropbox Desktop (from the dropbox icon to a standard folder icon), but I'm not able to delete the folder or move it.

Also, when I copy a file path from file explorer it keeps on adding the Dropbox extension (the main reason why I decided to quit my Dropbox membership), for example: C:\Users\USERNAME\Dropbox\My PC (A-CNDXXXXX)\Documents\Ex_Files_Data_Methods\exampledocument.docx

instead of simply: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Ex_Files_Data_Methods\exampledocument.docx

I simply want to disconnect my device from Dropbox and get rid off any connection with Dropbox, without deleting any files from my computer or Dropbox online.

Any help is much appreciated!
Best regards
Bela

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Hannah

Not a problem, Bela!

You can follow these steps to see if you can restore your desktop folders to their original locations:

Right click the Desktop/Downloads/Documents folders
Choose "Properties"
Go to the "Locations" tab
Choose to reset to default location.

And can you check your connected devices in your account settings, to see if the particular computer still appears to be linked to your Dropbox account?

If it is, delete it from there and try to delete the Dropbox folder again, to see if that helps at all.

All comments

Hannah

Hey @Bela_, thanks for joining us on the Dropbox Community.

Let's take things one at a time.

So firstly, it seems you had enabled our backup feature on your Dropbox application, that's why the paths of your desktop folders changed and are in Dropbox now.

Do you remember disabling backup before uninstalling Dropbox from your computer?

And also, why are you not able to delete the Dropbox folder, are you getting some kind of error message?

Keep me posted.

Bela_

Hey @Hannah

Thanks for the swift response!

Yes, I think that's correct! I think it's actually quite the amazing feature, but I also ran in a lot of issues, when trying to access or saving files on my computer, because of the changes in the path link.

I don't really remember disabling the backup function, during the uninstallation of Dropbox Desktop. Do you think this is, what is causing the issue?

When I uninstalled Dropboy Desktop the folder icon changed from to . When I tried to delete it completely, I got a message informing me, that the data in the folder is too big to be deleted. Probably because it is kind of a backup of my whole system...

Thanks again for your help and best regards

Hannah

Not a problem, Bela!

You can follow these steps to see if you can restore your desktop folders to their original locations:

Right click the Desktop/Downloads/Documents folders
Choose "Properties"
Go to the "Locations" tab
Choose to reset to default location.

And can you check your connected devices in your account settings, to see if the particular computer still appears to be linked to your Dropbox account?

If it is, delete it from there and try to delete the Dropbox folder again, to see if that helps at all.

Bela_

Hey @Hannah

Thanks a lot for your help.
This somehow did the trick. I got error messages when I changed the location for my Desktop and Downloads folder, and it didn't seem to work, but after restarting my computer the location was changed nonetheless.

On a side note though: all my files saved on my desktop were deleted in the process... So if anyone is facing the same problem and uses this solution I would advise making sure your computer is backed up before trying this.

Thanks and best regards

Béla

dlhackbart

Hi,

Bela said "all my files saved on my desktop were deleted in the process... " and of course that's a problem. Originally I think me might have done the same thing, I synced my Documents file (actually my whole Device! on Dropbox therefore the large folders under Documents (and elsewhere) were on my computer twice including under Dropbox/Documents taking double the room. So if I'm correct I don't want that. I changed locations in the properties box as mentioned in the thread to avoid future syncing. However Dropbox still has all of my Document files in it. I'm not sure what happens to the files on my computer under Documents when I delete the files in Dropbox/Documents (same files), will this affect the files on my computer in C:Documents or just the files in C: Dropbox/Documents? (syntax is incorrect but I think you get the idea...). Thanks, Dave

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @Bela_! I'm glad to see that it all worked out and the issue was resolved.

As for you @dlhackbart,do you remember disabling the backup feature, before you restored the location of the desktop folders?

dlhackbart

Hi Hannah,

Thanks, I'm looking forward to your help.

I don't really know what you mean. "...restored the location of the desktop folders?"

Here is my overall issue then more specific...

I'm having "space" issues on my C Drive and I'm thinking I've got duplicate files because of Dropbox. And if so, how to have only one file? And if not, how to change addressing back to not having Dropbox in the address or pointer or location... And in so doing how do I prevent myself from deleting a file in Dropbox that is not on my computer?

I don't remember if I disabled backup. If you mean recently, all I remember doing 3 days ago was changing the Location in Properties as you or someone suggested so the default is just

C:\Users\David\Documents

rather than having Dropbox in that address when I save files...

C:\Users\David\Dropbox\My PC (DESKTOP-LGONTSI)

Here are my specific questions... I believe I do not have Dropbox in the file location for future saving of a file because I changed the properties setting as above. But now want to make sure I only have one file and/or one location address for each file and again prevent myself from deleting a file in Dropbox that is not on my computer. How do I know if there are files that are only on Dropbox and not on my computer? Are there actually TWO files on my C: drive when \Dropbox is in the address or is that just a pointer to the same file?

And if there is only one file and this is not creating the space problem, for now, I want to go back, change existing "locations" to point to the non-Dropbox location, having more "direct" addressing of my files rather everything automatically getting the Dropbox pointer or subfolder or whatever it is. I think that issue was solved for future saving when I changed the Location in Properties but now want to change existing addresses...

Sorry, I have a minor in computer science from 35 years ago and am not in the industry. So this is how I think about things and am trying my best to explain the symptoms in search of a remedy. I need to reduce my C drive b/c of space issues whenever I boot. I'm thinking I have dup's... b/c of Dropbox. Thanks for your help...

Jay

Hi @dlhackbart, first, could you confirm that you have both the normal Documents folder in the location you mention, and a separate Documents folder in the Dropbox folder itself?

If you delete a file from the Dropbox Documents folder, does it also delete from the normal Documents folder?

dlhackbart

Sorry it's blurry. As I hit Post, I got this response and things went a little fuzzy. Hope you can still read my post ok...

"Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied"

Here's my post...

Here is a pic of the first few folders in my Documents folder under Dropbox.

Note: two files in Aug, 1 file in May and then many April and before.

My free Dropbox account has been full for over a year.

Here is a picture of my Documents folder under C:

Note: No files for May June or July. Maybe in subfolders but I don't think so...

When deleting a file from Dropbox it asks if I want to delete from Dropbox or all devices...

Here are the properties of each folder. The (free) Dropbox folder has 26.4 GB and 11,000 files and my reg Doc's folder has only 321 MB and 695 files.

Note the dates of the files in each also. Each is sorted by most recent first. Seems from this there is no rhyme or reason to saving and I don't know what I've apparently done to get this result. It seems there are a lot of months I don't have document files saved as mentioned above... that doesn't seem correct. But one thing at a time. How do I get Dropbox uninvolved in my files without losing any files?

Thanks...

Dave

Jay

With the message you're getting, this is a normal message asking if you want to remove it from Dropbox, and the Dropbox folder of all connected devices.

If the computer backup has been disabled, then the files in the normal Documents folder would be the correct one for the machine (as in, click on the main Documents folder leads to the , and you can move the files from the Dropbox folder back to their former location.