Child Item

Impossible to access my files (documents, downloads and desktop) on Mac because of Dropbox sync

Hello,

In 2020, I worked for a company and I had to download Dropbox on my computer. Since 1 week, I encountered a big issue with my Mac since I can no longer access all my files. For example, when I try to open my file Documents it says ""Documents" cannot be opened because the original item cannot be found.". I called Apple's customer service and after few days of research, it appears that this problem is caused by the Dropbox syncronization. As I understood it, they told me that my files still exist but it's somewhere on my Mac and that Dropbox bloc the access. The problem is that since I have no news form the company and I don't know if it still exist. Therefore I can't access the account I used when I was working with them.

Is there someone who had the same problem or is there anyway to contact Dropbox's customer support ?

Thank you in advance

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Error Messages

Account Access

Mac

Dropbox Backup

Insightful

AcceptAnswer

Accepted answers

All comments

Walter

Hi @Jeremybenhamou, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

It sounds like you had enabled the Dropbox backup feature on your computer at some point in the past.

Can you please clarify if you have the Dropbox desktop app running on your computer at the moment? If it is, what's its exact status as shown in your menu bar?

A screenshot of the exact error you've been getting would also help, so feel free to attach one.

When it comes to the account's access, do you have access to the email address that was used for that account?

If so, you could reset your password as outlined here.

In any case, please keep me posted!

Jeremybenhamou

Hello Walter,

Thank you for your help,

I just called Apple's customer service so that they can explain the problem again.

As you can see in the screenshot_1 below, I can't access the main folders on my computer because they have been moved to another location in the code tree (screenshot_2).

In the screenshot_2 of the apple report, you can see that the engineers found my files in a Dropbox folder.

However, I uninstalled the Dropbox application from my computer a long time ago, I even thought that I had erased all traces of Dropbox from my computer but apparently this is not the case.

Regarding the account with which I logged in at the time I was using Dropbox, I have contacted the owner of the account (my former boss). The account is still active and if I understood correctly the engineers told me that my files were surely in this storage space.

I hope you have understood my problem better and that you can help me

Jeremy

Screenshot 2022-10-03 at 10.20.42.jpg Screenshot_1Screenshot_1

Screenshot_2

Nancy

Hi Jeremy, hope it’s OK to jump in.

Just to clarify, before uninstalling the desktop app from your device, did you disable computer backup, by any chance?

Also, if you go to this page, are you able to see the computer folders that were previously backed up, along with your files?

Tfrancis1

Hi, I have also had this problem. After reading your advice to disable Dropbox backup. The Dropbox app did not do as it said it would. It didn't leave my files on my computer... it just added a folder called "My files in Dropbox", which it won't give me permission to look at.
I am the owner of my Dropbox account and it is still installed on my mac.
Why hasn't it left all of my files and folders in there correct place.
The app should never have moved them to start with!!!
Let alone removing my permissions with no way of gaining permission to reaccess these files.

It won't even let me access my back up now from the Dropbox app.
Apparently i don't have permission to access the backup. But i can see the rest of my Dropbox folders...
What the hell is going on with this update. It is the worst thing I've ever seen.

Jeremybenhamou

Same for me, I wasn’t able to access my folders, Dropbox made me lost everything

Walter

Hey there @Tfrancis1 & @Jeremybenhamou, could you send us a screenshot of the exact error you're getting or the last page you can get to?

Tfrancis1

Hi Walter,

I don't fell comfortable sending through a whole screenshot of my computer screen for you to see the file paths etc over a forum.

I've pasted the actual error popup i've received, but if you need any other info, i would prefer an email address i can send it to?

Nancy

Hi @Tfrancis1, hope it’s OK to reply here. Also, thanks for the screenshots!

What you mention is quite bizarre, indeed.

Can you please send me the exact OS version of your computer, as well as the app version of your Dropbox app? You should be able to see this by hovering over the small Dropbox icon in your menu bar.

Tfrancis1

Hi Nancy,
Someone from support has contacted me and gave me a series of lines of code to enter into the terminal app to delete the old files etc and then reinstalled everything.
This has now worked.

The problem is with the new beta Dropbox app backup function.
I was using MacOS ventures 13.1 and 13.2 and the latest version of Dropbox app from the website.
It for some reason rejects permissions once the backup function takes the folders from finder and places them in the Dropbox app folder.

If I had known it was going to move these folders from my computer I would never have agreed to using this function.

Megan

Hi @Tfrancis1!

Awesome news to know that you managed to resolve this with our Support.

If you need anything else, I'm always here!

taoctiger

I had this exact issue as well and it is not allowing me to upgrade my dropbox. Desktop, Documents, and Downloads are listed as an alias and the file path now goes through Dropbox. See below.

If I look at their paths it says Macintosh HD>Users>UserName>Dropbox>Mac

I'm using a 2023 MacBook Pro with an M2 chip and OS Ventura 13.2.1.

Can someone give me the script that was used to correct this issue so that I can get those folders back to their original places? This affects my ability to save files in those locations and my ability to update the Dropbox application.

Megan

Hi @taoctiger, let's jump right into this!

in order to get your Documents, Desktop and Downloads folder back to their original paths, you'd need to disable Backup first.

You can do this, using these steps. Have you tried that?

Keep me posted!

taoctiger

Hi Megan,

Thanks, but I don't seem to have the ability to disable backups. It provides me no option to do so when I go to Manage Backups.

Here is a screencast of what happens: https://app.screencast.com/iHUGt8SKRyS3S

It just tells me what I'm trying to get done which is to get those folders moved back to their correct spots.

Tfrancis1

Hi,

If you contact support directly, they will give you directions to enter into your Terminal (C: prompt Dos) that will help correct the issue.

But keep in mind, your folders will not go back to where they are supposed to be. They will be listed under "My files in Dropbox".

Absolutely disappointed with the efforts of Dropbox with this update. It has completely screwed the system. The only way around it is to not

use dropbox app at all. Otherwise moving the folders back to the original position disconnects and fails the sync mode.

Completely stupid system and Dropbox, should never have allowed a script that would move system files out of their original position.

My words can not explain how annoyed and frustrated i am with this update to Dropbox. I wish i had never updated and just stayed with the old

online sync system. Now everything I have documents in Dropbox sync and some that are not. You have to use the "My files in Dropbox" folder moving forward.

I'm currently in the process of looking at moving to OneDrive and/or Google Drive. So frustrating after using dropbox app successfully for so long.

Hannah

We really appreciate your feedback, @Tfrancis1 and I will make sure to pass your comments along to our team.

Regarding disabling backup, @taoctiger, can you try to do it through your backups page online, to see how that works?

taoctiger

@Hannah it doesn't seem to let me do that when I try online. Below is a link to what happens.

Also, if I try to finish doing the upgrade it won't let me because it says it can't sync the Documents folder. It tells me to unlock it but when I check it isn't locked. That is in the screencast as well.

https://app.screencast.com/9O8DW2cISBvnR

Jay

Thanks for the info, @taoctiger , could you try contacting the support team for them to look into this matter in more detail?

taoctiger

Thanks, Jay. I have done this.

Megan

Hi @taoctiger, feel free to share your ticket number reference with me, so I can locate it on our system.

taoctiger

Hi Megan,

Sure, it is Ticket #21895907

Thanks!

Megan

Hi @taoctiger, thanks for this!

I was able to locate your ticket number, and an agent will be with you shortly. Thank you for your patience!

immo

Could you please share the solution to this problem, I am having the exact same issue.

Dropbox syncing is NOT enabled. When I try to enable it, it says that Dropbox does not have permission. I cannot access my Desktop, Downloads, and Documents folders.

Walter

Hey @immo, sorry to hear about this.

Can you please send us a screenshot of the error you're getting?

If you're running the desktop app, could you send us its status and version as shown in your menu bar as well?

immo

Hi Walter,

thanks for your response.

I am running the desktop app on Mac. The sync status says "All files are up to date".

I have attached some screenshots of the error:

1. Home folder --> I cannot access the DDD folders.

2. Dropbox currently has no active "backup tab"

3. Dropbox / preferences / manage backups asks me to set up backups.

4. But then the following error message occurs.

5. Dropbox has full disk access.

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 08.26.00.jpg

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 08.25.23.jpg

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 08.27.38.jpg

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 08.28.06.jpg

Megan

Hi @immo, I appreciate all the information that you have provided my way.

When you access your Backup page online, do you see the feature being disabled?

If so, can you also try out these steps?

immo

Thanks a lot, following the indicated steps worked. I can now access the DDD folders again.

However, the actual desktop still does not link to the "desktop" folder in my home directory. I still don't have access to the desktop. But I can open user/desktop.

Megan

Hi @immo, were you able to drag and drop any folders to the desired path?

What do you see on your end, could you send me a couple of screenshots?

immo

Hello,

here are some screenshots:

1. The home folder: I can go inside each of those folders. The "documents" and "downloads" folders work as expected.

2. The "desktop" folder seems to be unconnected to my actual "desktop" that I see in the background. I can enter the "desktop" folder in my home directory but when I try to e.g. create a new folder on the actual desktop this is the error message that I get.

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 14.20.08.jpg

Screenshot 2023-03-29 at 14.20.28.jpg

Jay

Hi @immo, could you confirm if you enabled the Dropbox Backup for those two folders, or are they still in their default locations?

immo

Dropbox backup is NOT enabled for those two folders. Only the content of the Dropbox folder is synced.