Shared folder not visible to shared user

Hi @copwriter, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

The notification in your desktop appears to by an 8, meaning you have unread notifications in the desktop app. You can clear this by clicking the bell icon in the desktop app when you open that icon, and marking all as read.

Was the folder previously visible on your computer? Is it possible that the folder has incompatible characters for Windows, such as a : or | symbol in it?

This will help me to assist further!

Thank you for the quick reply.

>>The notification in your desktop appears to by an 8, meaning you have unread notifications in the desktop app. You can clear this by clicking the bell icon in the desktop app when you open that icon, and marking all as read.<<

I opened the desktop app and marked all unread messages as "read," but the red icon is still showing in the taskbar.

>>Was the folder previously visible on your computer? Is it possible that the folder has incompatible characters for Windows, such as a : or | symbol in it?<<

The folder name is "patient records" with no special characters. It was previously visible in File Explorer running on several desktop and laptop computers I use and have configured for me. The file names all follow the naming convention Lastname Firstname-file topic-yyyy-mm-dd. Most of the files are PDFs.

Is it possible that the folder was moved to a folder not syncing to your machine due to selective sync?

If there isn't any personal info in the folder names, could you attach a screenshot showing the folder on the site (including the parent folder), and the location as it appears in Explorer?

Martha D.

>>Is it possible that the folder was moved to a folder not syncing to your machine due to selective sync?<<

The folder "patient records" was unintentionally moved to a subfolder of "Patient Tracking." I moved it back where it was. That's when it couldn't be viewed in File Explorer. "Patient tracking" is also a shared folder. It still appears in File Explorer.

>>If there isn't any personal info in the folder names, could you attach a screenshot showing the folder on the site (including the parent folder), and the location as it appears in Explorer?<<

Here is how the file list appears on the Dropbox website:

Here is how it looks in File Explorer:

Note that "patient tracking" shows up, while "patient records" doesn't.

Here is a shot of the folder as it appears on the Dropbox website. I had to redact some names for this one:

Let me know if there is any other information you need. I appreciate your attempts to help.

It seems that the sync icons you have in the Dropbox folder aren't the same as the normal icons. You have some yellow icons and half green icons.

Are you certain this is your official Dropbox folder? Is the Dropbox desktop application currently running and syncing normally when you click the icon, according to the message in the bottom left?

Do you have any other cloud services running on your machine?

>>It seems that the sync icons you have in the Dropbox folder aren't the same as the normal icons. You have some yellow icons and half green icons. <<

I am unaware of what the colors on the icons signify. The only icon symbol I recognize is the one with two human figures, which indicates a shared folder.

>>Are you certain this is your official Dropbox folder? Is the Dropbox desktop application currently running and syncing normally when you click the icon, according to the message in the bottom left?<<

I'm unsure of what constitutes my "official" Dropbox folder. The Dropbox folder I see in File Explorer resides at \Users\Tim\Documents\My Dropbox (I'm Tim). If I navigate to that folder by clicking on , then Users, etc., I see a list of Dropbox folders in my account, but none that are shared with me. The shared folders include the "patient records" folder presently missing in action. If I view my Dropbox folder via the listing that appears in the left pane of File Explorer with other cloud service icons, I see both my folders and the shared folders. See screencap below.

Screenshot 2023-11-05 073356d.jpg

>>Do you have any other cloud services running on your machine?<<

Yes. I have Amazon Drive, iCloud, and OneDrive installed and running. I'm not having any difficulty with those services.

I got a notice that this topic had been updated, but I’m not seeing any new posts.

After some investigation, it appears that your sync icons belong to Carbonite, which is another cloud service.

Could you try quitting that app entirely to see what is the current status of the folders in the Dropbox folder?

I quit Carbonite via Task Manager, and brought up the Dropbox folder in File Manager. The folder icons all appear without any overlay/status indicator. The "patient records" folder still does not appear.

Screenshot 2023-11-06 205026.jpg

Sorry to jump in here, @copwriter.

To go back to a question that Jay asked you, is the Dropbox application working correctly and syncing files as normal?

Because there are no Dropbox syncing icons on the files at the moment, which could indicate that the application is not running.

If you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray, what do you see, please?

This is a screencap of the Dropbox icon in the task tray:

Screenshot 2023-11-08 061716.jpg

There seems to be two further issues I've noticed. Without sync icons, we can't be certain that this is the Dropbox folder. Since Windows has a 15 icon limit on overlay, please could you quit all open cloud services and backup services. This should bring back the Dropbox icons in that folder.

Another matter is that you mentioned it was in a location called Documents/My Dropbox. The Dropbox folder cannot be called 'My Dropbox' by default, nor can is be changed to that name, as it must be 'Dropbox' on its own.

Are you certain this is the correct folder location? Have you made any junction points or symlinks to the folder? If you add a file in that folder, does it appear on the site, and vice versa?

>>There seems to be two further issues I've noticed. Without sync icons, we can't be certain that this is the Dropbox folder. Since Windows has a 15 icon limit on overlay, please could you quit all open cloud services and backup services. This should bring back the Dropbox icons in that folder.<<

After quitting Amazon Drive, iCloud, and OneDrive, this is what my Dropbox folder looks like in File Explorer:

Screenshot 2023-11-08 164711.jpg

>>Another matter is that you mentioned it was in a location called Documents/My Dropbox. The Dropbox folder cannot be called 'My Dropbox' by default, nor can is be changed to that name, as it must be 'Dropbox' on its own. <<

I don't recall ever renaming or moving the Dropbox folder. When I went looking for it just now, I dioscovered what may be a relevant issue: the Dropbox folder is actually a subfolder of "My Dropbox," which is a subfolder of Documents. If I click on the Dropbox icon in File Manager shortcuts (not sure that is the proper name for this--it's the list of folders that appears above the full FM list in the left pane), the file path in the command line says just "Dropbox."

Screenshot 2023-11-08 165634a.jpg

If I navigate to the Dropbox folder itself, the command line reflects a different file path:

Screenshot 2023-11-08 170018.png

I haven't moved the Dropbox folder or renamed it since the "patient records" folder disappeared, but it occurs to me that this may be part of the problem. If so, how do I fix it?

>>Are you certain this is the correct folder location? Have you made any junction points or symlinks to the folder? If you add a file in that folder, does it appear on the site, and vice versa?<<

No junctions or symlinks that I'm aware of. I used to use those, but they had a knack for corrupting my entire Windows installation and I abandoned them with a new OS install. I just tested loading files into a Dropbox folder from the Drobbox website and from File Explorer. If I save a file in the Dropbox desktop folder, it appears in the online version, and vice versa.

Thanks for the clarificaiton about the location of the folder, this would be fine to have it stored in a subfolder like that.

I can see that you still have the Carbonite syncing icons visible, since there is no yellow sync icon for Dropbox. Could you try quitting that application as well to see the Dropbox icons?

Here is a File Manager screencap after quitting Carbonite:

Screenshot 2023-11-08 192124b.jpg

Walter

Hey @copwriter - sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that the icons on your files are still coming from Carbonite, not Dropbox.

Are you 100% sure that you quit that app on the affected machine?

If you did and this persists, you might need to uninstall it completely.

While we're at it, you might wanna give these steps a go too.

Okay. I disabled Carbonite, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Amazon Drive in the startups folder on Task Manager, then rebooted the machine. This is a screenshot of my Dropbox folder:

Screenshot 2023-11-09 235346.jpg

As for the other suggestion regarding the Registry keys, the Dropbox overlay icons appear in the list starting at position 18. I saw the advice that higher priority overlay icons have to be disabled so that Dropbox appears in the first 15 entries, but I have no idea how to do that without potentially pranging my Windows installation. I don't make Registry changes without knowing what they're going to do. Here is what the Registry entries look like:

Screenshot 2023-11-10 000840a.jpg

I'd like to get back to the original issue of regaining access to the "patient records" folder that shows online in Dropbox but not in my File Manager list. I get the impression that the presence or absence of a file icon is relevant to this problem, but I'm wondering if we can resolve it without chasing down every folder icon in the Windows universe.

Hey @copwriter, I understand your hesitance in regards to the registry keys, however, we basically first need to make sure that Dropbox works as it's supposed to, which is part of the troubleshooting of your original issue, that's why we're insisting on this.

I'd suggest you follow the steps that Walter linked in his reply, about the 15 icons and let us know if that brings back the Dropbox icons.

And can you please also check one more thing? If you click on the Dropbox icon in your system tray and then on the folder icon next to your initials/profile pic, are you taken to the same Dropbox folder we see in your screenshots?

>>Hey @copwriter, I understand your hesitance in regards to the registry keys, however, we basically first need to make sure that Dropbox works as it's supposed to, which is part of the troubleshooting of your original issue, that's why we're insisting on this.<<

I have some appointments today. I will come back afterward and see if I can edit the Registry to get the folder icons to appear.

>>And can you please also check one more thing? If you click on the Dropbox icon in your system tray and then on the folder icon next to your initials/profile pic, are you taken to the same Dropbox folder we see in your screenshots?<<

Yes, it brings up the same folder. The folder's true path is \Users\Tim\Documents\My Dropbox\Dropbox.

Thanks for the update, @copwriter, get back to us whenever you can and we can continue working on this together!

Okay, I have disabled the startup of Carbonite, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Amazon Drive in Task Manager. I edited the Registry to prefix all of the OneDrive keys with Zs and rebooted the computer. The Dropbox keys start at Position No. 8:

The Dropbox folder of File Manager now looks like this:

Dropbox 2023-11-14.jpg

As before, I'm not seeing my "patient records" folder. What should we try next?

Thanks, @copwriter!

It does look like the Dropbox sync icons are back, everything looks okay.

Just wanted to confirm a couple more things with you; if you add a test file now in your Dropbox folder, does it sync to your account online?

And if you go through the steps in this article, does the "patient records" folder appear in the list of folders?

Also, can you double check your selective sync settings for the folder in the app's preferences while logged into your personal account?

>>Just wanted to confirm a couple more things with you; if you add a test file now in your Dropbox folder, does it sync to your account online?<<

Yes, that happens.

>>And if you go through the steps in this article, does the "patient records" folder appear in the list of folders?<<

That's more complicated. The "patient records" folder is shared from another Dropbox account, the business account I mentioned in my original post. The "patient records" folder isn't going to show up in my Selective Sync list. If I log onto the online business account, the "patient records" folder shows up there, and it is marked as shared with my account, as are several other folders.

Dropbox 2023-11-14a.jpg

The other folders appear in my desktop Dropbox list, but "patient records" doesn't.

Walter

In that case, could you check if this folder is listed in your sharing tab to add it back to your account @copwriter?

While we're at it, could you maybe navigate to your events page and try to restore the folder from there?

>>While we're at it, could you maybe navigate to your events page and try to restore the folder from there? <<

>>In that case, could you check if this folder is listed in your sharing tab to add it back to your account @copwriter? <<

Mystery solved. There was a flag on that folder indicating I had not "joined" the folder. It now shows up in File Manager on my desktop machine.

>>Also, can you double check your selective sync settings for the folder in the app's preferences while logged into your personal account? <<

That folder is set to sync to my desktop, which is what I want.

The events page indicates I created the shared folder "patient records" three minutes ago.

Thanks much to you and everyone at Dropbox tech support for your help. It took a while, but everything is back up and running as it should.