New laptop, how do I restart Dropbox?

Question

Hello! Maybe this is a dumb question... It looks like Dropbox quit backing things up from my iPhone to my laptop in April for some reason. I got a new laptop in September, and I'm trying to get it to work on this one. I signed in, but I don't know how to get it to start backing up again. And I don't want it to back up things that I've already removed from Dropbox last year, just things that it hasn't backed up yet at all, since April. How do I do this? Thanks!

Nancy · Answer

Hi @Kendal B.! I hope you’re doing well.

Just to clarify, do you have the Dropbox mobile app currently installed on your iPhone? If yes, you can enable camera uploads there and select to upload only photos that are stored on your phone from this point on (so that you don’t upload any old files).

After the files get uploaded to your Dropbox app, they should also appear on www.dropbox.com and on your new laptop, if you have the desktop app installed there.

Kendal B. · Answer

Thanks! Got it to start backing up again, though I'm unsure how many will be backed up. I regularly take things off of there and put them on a hard drive, though I only do this every few months. Right now the only photos in there are from April... though I'm actually unsure where the rest of 2022 is because I don't recall starting a folder for that (but I'm not at home and can't check my drive). Anyway, I don't want to re-upload all photos since 2012 or something. Just the ones that have never been backed up before. How can I make sure it does this and doesn't upload photos that had already been backed up and removed from Dropbox earlier?

Walter · Answer

Hey @Kendal B., thanks for using Dropbox and posting on our Community!

You should be able to (re) enable the automatic camera uploads feature by using the steps outlined here.

Let me know if you have any follow up questions!