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How should I handle the Dropbox app before and after reinstalling Windows on my computer?

Hi everyone,

I installed Windows on the C drive and have my Dropbox folder on the D drive. I use the Dropbox app.

I want to completely reinstall Windows. I want to delete everything from the C drive and reinstall Windows. The D drive remains unchanged; all data remains there.

Are these the correct steps to take:

1) Log out from Desktop app

2) Exit Dropbox app

3) Uninstall Dropbox app

4) Install Windows 11

5) Install Dropbox app

6) Assign to the same folder

Is this the right way? Won't that conflict? I want to avoid having to re-sync everything.

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Hannah

Hey @jeroenws, thanks for your post!

You are actually right on the money with the steps here.

You'll basically need to unlink the computer first, by signing out of the Dropbox desktop app and then uninstall it.

After the Windows process is done and you reinstall the Dropbox app, but don't want to re-download all of your files, you need to choose the "Advanced" setup option during the installation process.

Then you need to choose the parent folder of the existing Dropbox folder as the location for this new install, in your case the drive.

If you're connecting with the same Dropbox account, the app will detect the existing folder and will then prompt you to merge the Dropbox folder.

Upon merging, the app will check the existing files locally and the server versions and update accordingly.

Note that conflicts will be created if any changes are made to the files in the Dropbox folder or on the web interface while the folder was "offline".

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions!

Megan

Hey @jeroenws!

A quick follow-up to our last message! Let us know if you still need assistance or if everything is working as expected.

alwayssomethingnew

Hey Hannah,

I had the same question and also have the Dropbox folder on the drive, thank you for the response to @jeroenws
I would like to use the Dropbox backup feature for my Desktop which wasn't possible last time I tried as even though the Desktop was in the standard place, the Dropbox folder was on
Is that yet possible? If not are there any plans to do that?

Thank you

@alwayssomethingnew

Hannah

Hi there, @alwayssomethingnew, and happy new year!

Using Dropbox backup to back up folders that are not on the same drive as your Dropbox folder is still not possible and there's also no plan to make that happen any time soon, as far as we know.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I've made sure to pass your feedback about this to our team.

Let me know if you need anything else!

alwayssomethingnew

Thank you Hannah. And just for the benefit of anyone else researching this. Even if both are on the same drive, they have to be in the standard locations on C. So no good if both are on for example or if one is standard on C but the other non standard on C.

alwayssomethingnew

Hi Hannah

Here one workaround for tech savvy users enabling the Desktop folder to be placed inside Dropbox itself which can be on any internal drive , so seamlessly synching Desktop and its contents, and an improvement on Dropbox Backup in the sense that Desktop can be shared and so on.

In Dropbox create a folder named say "Desk". Then a second level subfolder - say "Desk2" , example \Dropbox\Desk\Desk2

Then find the existing desktop folder -

standard is C:\users\[yourusername]\Desktop

right click Look for the tab along the top "location" click on it and change location. Move it to the **Second Level** folder "Desk2" as above. I moved all Desktop folders & files etc. as well.

WARNING DO NOT MOVE DESKTOP TO A FIRST LEVEL FOLDER IN DROPBOX.
I FOUND THERE NEEDS TO BE A SECOND LEVEL SUBFOLDER TO AVOID THE SYSTEM BECOMING CONFUSED BETWEEN DROPBOX AND DESKTOP.

I SUGGEST FOR TECH SAVVY USERS ONLY WHO ARE COMFORTABLE WITH WINDOWS RECOVERY, BACKUP, AND SYSTEM RESTORE POINTS.
I DOUBT THIS WOULD BE SUPPORTED BY DROPBOX INC AND SORRY, THERE'S NO SUPPORT FROM ME.