Photo Library not reachable on macOS after Dropbox sync

Dear Hannah,

many thanks for your help ! Rebuilding the spotlight did not help, since the Photo library is greyed out in the choice of files to + or _ in the Spotlight privacy. Here is the screenshot of what happens when I try to open the Photo Library. It says that the Photo Library is in Dropbox and that I should move it back to Mac to able to open it. Best wishes ! Mirna

Capture d’écran 2023-01-11 à 16.24.04.png

Jay

Hi @Mirna D., as it seems you're on the new version of Dropbox for Mac OS, Apple no longer allows Photos Library to be stored over cloud-storage services, so you'd need to move it to your local storage.

Many thanks Jay. This is what needed to be done and it works now

Jay

Glad to have helped out, If you have any further queries in the future, feel free to message back.

Enjoy the remainder of your week!

I am having the same issue - after the Dropbox upgrade, when I try to open the photo library, it produces an error, saying “Photo library is in Dropbox and needs to be moved to a folder on your Mac to open”. How do I move it to a folder on my Mac? I’ve tried to copy and paste Photo Library to my Mac folder, but it just gives the same error. I’m running Mac OS Monterey 12.6 Thanks in advance!

Hello,

Jay's advice worked out for me. Just move the photo library out of the Dropbox folder (unfortunately this means that the photos are not saved on the Dropbox an more). To do this, go to finder and search for the photo library.

Best wishes, Mirna

Thank you - will do!

Hi there. I am also having this issue but the frustrating thing is that my photo library is not inside of dropbox. It's in its normal location on my system but it is being backed up to dropbox backup and sync. Can you please advise? I just upgraded to the new version of Dropbox for MacOS.

Upon digging around a bit further I see now (after I've updated to the new Dropbox app) that my Pictures folder is no longer in its normal location and is showing as a shortcut to Dropbox.

I will let the update re-index my files post-update (33,000 more to go!), restart my system, and see how it's looking then.

All updated now. This is a pretty frustrating situation.

For some reason, the two user folders I'd been backing up to Dropbox are now located inside of Dropbox.

Previously they were MacintoshHD/Users/awalsh/Desktop and MacintoshHD/Users/awalsh/Desktop and now they are both shortcuts located in Dropbox/Mac/Desktop and Dropbox/Mac/Pictures.

Obviously, my Desktop and my Pictures folder shouldn't be located inside of Dropbox.

Should I manually move them back to where they belong?

Also, since the update, the folders in dropbox (not in the backup) are a real mixed back in terms of having cloud icons or not having cloud icons. Some have the little cloud with the arrow, some have the outline cloud without the arrow, some have no icon at all, and none of my previously offline files are designated as being offline.

Megan

Hi @awgd, I'd be more than happy to help!

In regards to the first issue you mentioned about your files backing up inside the Dropbox folder: it sounds like you might have accidentally enabled our Computer backup feature.

If you want to revert the content back to its original paths, all you'd need to do is disable the feature as mentioned here, can you give it a go?

In regards to the icons, that would be expected, you can see more about that here. As for your offline files, have you tried right-clicking on them, and making them available offline?

Does that work?

Let me know more!

Hi Megan,

Thanks for your quick response.

I had been using the computer backup feature leading up to when this update to the new version of Dropbox occured.

The problem is that the folders being backed up were also moved to the new cloud Dropbox folder.

When the update initiated it warned me that my Dropbox files would be moved to that new location and that I'd encounter some file linking issues. That was fine. I understood that loud and clear.

What I didn't expect was for the process to move my backed up folders too (in this case desktop and pictures).

Regardless of the severity of the issues caused by moving my desktop and my pictures folders, it seems like this is an error. It is an error, yes?

Was installing the new version of Dropbox supposed to move my backed up folders?

Shouldn't my Pictures and Desktop folders have stayed where they were (in my user folder) and continued the one-way upload to Dropbox?

Now those folders are behaving like standard Dropbox folders so they have the right click menu options. Actually now I'm not sure if all of my Desktop and Pictures files are offline because they're being treated like standard Dropbox files.

Heck, now when I go to delete a file on my desktop it asks me of I want to delete it from Dropbox too.

If it's not an error, and backed up folders move from their original locations in the user folder to the separate Dropbox folder, well, I'm really unhappy with this. It's not ok for Dropbox to relocate such important folders.

In regards to my icons, it's expected for them to be messed up and inconsistent? Before the update those icons worked perfectly. It was very clear which files were offline and which files were online only. There was even the immensely helpful outline checkmate icon which showed that there were some downloaded files somewhere within a folder. Now I have a random assortment of clouds with arrows, clouds without arrows, some green checks for files I manually made offline since the update, and quite a few files and folders without any icons at all. It's actually turned what was a workable system using Dropbox to manage my files and space, to a completely unworkable mess.

Anyway, I hope none of these issues are a reflection of the state of the new app and are hopefully fixable errors.

Hopefully by sharing my experience it can help others in the same boat.

My contacts are no longer there either. The contacts show empty. I think that this mismatch with macOS is a disastrous move on the side of Dropbox and I hope that they will really get engaged to resolve it. I am thinking of returning to iCloud in place of Dropbox, but still waiting a bit to see if there will be a real response from Dropbox ... I have been with you for years guys ...

Megan

Hi @awgd, in regards to the Backup: yes, that would be expected.

This is how Backup works, and the paths become one with Dropbox. In regards to your icons though, could you send me a screenshot of the assortment of icons you see, in order for me to have a visual too?

Also, @Mirna D., you mentioned your contacts and that they are empty. Since I am not entirely sure what you mean by contacts, could you elaborate and let me know more? Are you referring to your Dropbox files, or Backup files, by any chance?

Hello Megan,

thanks for your message. I meant the desktop application Contacts on macOS. I have wanted to send you a screenshot but this system does not allow me to do so since it exceeds the maximum size of attachements of 3 MB. When I open the application, it just shows the empty list of contacts. The contacts are fine on my phone, so this is not a problem of the iCloud. I imagine Dropbox moved the file with contacts somewhere.

Spotlight also does not work and I have rebuilt and followed many instructions on that topic - nothing has helped.

You said in your previous mails that the problem is that people concerned have wanted to have a Dropbox backup of their computer and that they should therefore disable it in order for the Dropbox and macOS to work together. I am a bit confused - for me an important feature of my Dropbox subscription is to be able to backup my computer so if ever it is lost I can just get a new one and start working from where I started. Another feature was to have a copy of my photo library, already discussed above. Spotlight is good too. Why are these no longer possible? If this is the case and it will not change, why then the price of the Dropbox plan for macOS users has not been adjusted ... sorry I am a bit frustrated by what has happened and it has been weeks now.

Best wishes, Mirna

Megan

Hi @Mirna D., thanks for letting me know more!

Let's take it one topic at a time. Starting with your Contacts, I'd really appreciate a screenshot, in order for me to have a visual of what you see there. If you could try that again, or maybe resize your current file, that'd be splendid. Also, what is the app's current syncing status?

If you try searching in your Finder for the contacts, are you able to locate them?

Onto the Spotlight issue, you mentioned above, that the issue at hand had been fixed, but I am assuming it's back again to its old habits? Have you also tried the steps Walter provided here?

Lastly, in regards to your latest point: are you referring to Computer backup, or backing up your drive with Dropbox in general such as moving files there? Keep in mind that our Backup feature, the new MacOS and Computer backup can co-exist together, without clashing.

Capture d’écran 2023-02-15 à 15.36.58.png

Hi Megan,

thanks a lot for your message. So let's fix the contacts first. This is what I see.

PS, sorry I forgot to say that Dropbox shows that everything is synced

Jay

Hi @Mirna D., we're only aware of the Photos library not being allowed to remain on a CloudStorage folder.

Regarding the Contacts app, this isn't something related to Dropbox, as no other user has reported issues with their own Contacts apps. Have you made any changes to it, such as storing any of the app preferences in Dropbox itself?

Thanks Jay. I have not done anything to the Contacts, but will contact the iCloud forum to see if the issue on their side.

Hi Jay,

So if "the Photos library (is) not being allowed to remain on a CloudStorage folder" and the new Dropbox app moves my Pictures folder where the Photos library lives to the cloud storage folder because I had it backed up to Dropbox, then the new update effectively renders the Photos library useless.

So do you suggest I disable Dropbox backup for my Pictures folder and find another backup solution?

Hello,

I managed to fix the contacts by changing the preferences. It did not have anything to do with Dropbox, indeed

Yes, I also have the same question! 🙂

Hi Jay,

I have the same question as @awgd

"So if "the Photos library (is) not being allowed to remain on a CloudStorage folder" and the new Dropbox app moves my Pictures folder where the Photos library lives to the cloud storage folder because I had it backed up to Dropbox, then the new update effectively renders the Photos library useless.

So do you suggest I disable Dropbox backup for my Pictures folder and find another backup solution?"

jonnydavies

I've just accepted a Dropbox update which "moved" my Dropbox folder to a more secure location and now I get the error "Photos Library.photos library is in Dropbox, and needs to be moved to a folder on your Mac to open"

I use to Dropbox as my Photos location - what has happened here? This devalues my Dropbox subscription and use-case pretty significantly if I can't work around the error. FYI - to anyone saying I shouldn't be doing this - I've been synching this DB without any errors for the past 7-8 years and it's currently about 50GB in size

Emmet

Hello everyone,

We have an update on this. This has occurred as Apple no longer allows Photos Library to be synced with cloud-storage services. You can find out more about this here in the Expected Changes article.

Regards,

Emmet

Hi @rileybeebs

indeed, that is the only solution. The Dropbox and the macOS functions do not work together anymore. So the photo library has to be out of Dropbox and the search function on Spotlight does not open the Dropbox files ++++ Since this has been the situation for quite a while, with lots of questions about it, it does not seem that the situation will change. Therefore Dropbox has become rather useless for macOS users. I suppose that this is because Apple wants us to use iCloud instead. I am considering replacing my use of Dropbox by iCloud + Git for collaborations 😞