Dropbox was working fine on my laptop until recently. I don't remember any manual update of any program or OS recently. I'm on MAC Venture 13.4.1 + Dropbox v213.4.4597 The sync icons and the menu options when you right click on a file or folder in Dropbox are not showing. I have tried all options that I could find online: * Disable all other "Added extensions" and "Finder extensions" in my System Settings 2. Deactivate and reactivate the Dropbox finder extensions 3. Force quit Finder and relaunch it 4. Removed all the Dropbox cache and files (all hidden files in the main folder but also in the /Users/username/ and /Users/username/Library/CloudStorage folders) 5. Removed all other cloud storage apps and folders from the computer (Google Drive and OneDrive) (to avoid any possible conflicts with Dropbox) 7. Closed all the active programs that I could find in Activity Monitor (to avoid any possible conflicts with Dropbox) 6. Removed and reinstalled Dropbox multiple times 7. Shut down and restarted the computer The syncing itself works fine. When I create a new folder on my computer it shows up on the web version. When I create a folder on the web version it shows up on my computer. The problem is that I have all files by default on "online only" and I want to download different folders for offline use. I now can only download files one by one by clicking on them, but no folders. I'm getting kind of desperate at this point. What am I missing?

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No sync icons and right-click menu items on Mac

Dropbox was working fine on my laptop until recently. I don't remember any manual update of any program or OS recently.

I'm on MAC Venture 13.4.1 + Dropbox v213.4.4597

The sync icons and the menu options when you right click on a file or folder in Dropbox are not showing. I have tried all options that I could find online:

Disable all other "Added extensions" and "Finder extensions" in my System Settings
2. Deactivate and reactivate the Dropbox finder extensions
3. Force quit Finder and relaunch it
4. Removed all the Dropbox cache and files (all hidden files in the main folder but also in the /Users/username/ and /Users/username/Library/CloudStorage folders)
5. Removed all other cloud storage apps and folders from the computer (Google Drive and OneDrive) (to avoid any possible conflicts with Dropbox)
7. Closed all the active programs that I could find in Activity Monitor (to avoid any possible conflicts with Dropbox)
6. Removed and reinstalled Dropbox multiple times
7. Shut down and restarted the computer

The syncing itself works fine. When I create a new folder on my computer it shows up on the web version. When I create a folder on the web version it shows up on my computer.

The problem is that I have all files by default on "online only" and I want to download different folders for offline use. I now can only download files one by one by clicking on them, but no folders.

I'm getting kind of desperate at this point. What am I missing?

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Accepted answers

xjlevx

I was finally able to figure it out. You need to follow all the steps listed in the first response AND delete all the dropbox files on your computer. that was the only way i was able to get Dropbox to "refresh" and then the icons started showing in finder. It's scary having to delete all the files on your computer hoping they come back but they do

All comments

Hannah

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, @margotgommers.

I appreciate you listing the troubleshooting steps you took as well, that's really helpful.

Can you also try a more advanced reinstall of the app, to see if that helps?

Keep me posted.

margotgommers

Hi @Hannah , thanks so much for your reply. I tried the advanced reinstall as it was indeed something I hadn't tried yet. I followed all steps, including the terminal (I had no abnormal settings so I just used the exact sample prompts one by one). I downloaded the same version of Dropbox again via the link that was on that page (it had a different file name and size as the one from the regular download page but it was the same version as before).

But the problem unfortunately still exists...

Hannah

Thanks for the update, Margot.

In that case, can we send you an email, so we can take a look into this internally?

margotgommers

Hi @Hannah , yes please, I can't seem the option to send you a DM though

margotgommers

Hi @Hannah , can you send me a DM or email please? My email address is connected to my account here. TIA!

Megan

Hey @margotgommers, I just sent you an email, and I'll be happy to see you there!

xjlevx

Was this ever solved? I have the same issue

margotgommers

It wasn't. Dropbox stopped responding to my tickets as well.

I finally created a new admin user on my Macbook. Really annoying though because I had to setup this new account, login again everywhere, as if I was setting up a new laptop.

As the problem with Dropbox didn't exist on the new account, it probably has something to do with a (hidden) file that was saved in the folder of the old Macbook account. But I checked all folders for any Dropbox files and still couldn't find it.

Hannah

Hi @xjlevx, since I can see you're looking into this with Megan here, please make sure to follow up when you can.

Now, I'm sorry to hear about your experience @margotgommers.

From my side, I can see that the ticket that was initially created, was escalated for further review.

Since there was no response after a period of time, the ticket was closed automatically.

I can see that you followed up as well, although not through the Support page, and that's why the second ticket ended up getting closed as well.

If you're still experiencing an issue, I'd really like to re-open the case for you and send you an email directly. In that case, please let me know and I'll get things started right away.

xjlevx

Hannah

Thanks for sharing your experience, @xjlevx, I'm glad to see it was resolved.

Let us know if you need anything else.

margotgommers

I did that, many times, all in a row. I would really like to find which file or files are exactly causing the problem to search specifically for them.

margotgommers

Too bad Dropbox couldn't help me further and stopped replying to my ticket(s), including the screen recording I made per your request.

Hannah

Hey @margotgommers, thanks for the reply here.

I understand where you're coming from and I did mention why this happened in my previous reply, but if you're still having this issue, please let us know and we'll send you an email to open this case again for you.

matt g

Hi Hannah - I have a similar problem - can you help please?

I have tried multiple clean installs. dropbox works on a new user account - but i cannot get it to work properly on my regular user on my macbook pro. it has been working fine for years. now: no menu icon, no right click finder functionality. I want to avoid having to make a new user on my laptop. thank you. matt

Megan

Hi there, @matt g let's see what we can find together about this!

As a first step, can you clarify the exact OS version that you use on your Mac?

While we're at it, can you also share with me the app's current syncing status, and version? You can find this by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon in your menu bar, next to your WiFi.

When did this behavior first start?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

quentin6

Hi, I want to drop by to add my two cents. I am experiencing also a disappearance of the right-click menu items (and sometimes the sync icons in finder, though it is uncorrelated). For me the issue seems erratic, and they tend to appear and disappear semi randomly. At least I could not identify a specific pattern, apart maybe from the fact that it seems that the issue arises more while the app is in the process of syncing many files.

Mac OS version: 15.6.1

Dropbox version: 232.4.5926

I use both a teams and a personal account on the same machine. I also have dropbox backups running, so this is all happening in my "Documents" folder, but I don't think this is related to the issue..

Nancy

Hey @quentin6! Are the sync icons/context menu options currently missing from your desktop app?

Something to keep in mind is that, when the Dropbox app is in the process of syncing, some of its features may not be available till it’s up to date again.

However, if these functionalities are absent even after that, please let me know and we can look into this further.