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Dropbox won't start on MacBook.

Dropbox won't start on my MacBook anymore. It worked for years, but suddenly it stopped.

When I click on the icon in the top bar, it used to show recent files, access to files, etc. Now it jus shows a block with an animation and says "Starting", but nothing happens. I've re-installed Dropbox, altered permissions to Full Disk Access, and turned on Accessibility access. When I restart my computer, the dropbox icon appears in the top bar, but stays light grey.

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Calvin2DBX

Hi @gerryvdbyl,

Thanks for getting in touch!

I'm sure we can solve this startup issue.

Right click your Dropbox folder in Finder, choose Get info, and let's be sure there's less than 300,000 files populated in there so far.

Also, have a look from here: https://www.dropbox.com/account/security — do you see it listed under "Devices"?

I see there's no account avatar in the app window, so click the settings (gear) symbol and try using your Dropbox email and password to get that signed in and let me know what you find!

gerryvdbyl

Hello Calvin

Thanks for your response. I've been out of office for a few days, I'm sorry about the delay in replying to you.

There are currently 41056 items in my dropbox when I go to Get Info from the finder window.

The device is listed when I go to the security tab. All the other devices listed are functioning as expected, but the MacBook (which is contained in the list) is the device on which Dropbox just can't seem to launch.

Megan

Hi @gerryvdbyl, could you confirm the version of the Dropbox desktop application you're running?

You can do this by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in the system tray or menu bar.

Also, iss there is a possibility that a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router issues could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?

gerryvdbyl

Hi Megan

The version on my MacBook is 180.4.4912. This is the one that doesn't start up.

The version on my IMAc that works is also 180.4.4912, but this one works perfectly.

I do not have a proxy or VPN running. But the Apple Firewall is active on both devices, and both devices connect to the internet via the same wifi network, same router and same ISP fibre internet connection.

Megan

Hi @gerryvdbyl, thanks for letting me know!

If you right click on your Dropbox folder in your Finder, and check its Properties, can you let me know how many files you have there?

Would it be more than the app's 300K soft limit?

gerryvdbyl

Hi Megan

Currently I have 41056 items in my Dropbox. But surely if it was the "soft limit", I'd experience the same problem on all devices?

According to Finder Get Info:

"176,510,637,499 bytes (3.65 GB on disk) for 41,056 items"

Gerry

Megan

Hey Gerry, I just reached out via email, in order for us to have a closer look into this!