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I need to move my Downloads folder out of my Dropbox folder

13eichenwaldr

My computer's downloads folder is located in Dropbox instead of inside my computer. As a result, my Dropbox is 132% full, which means that people can't share new documents with me.

I don't want my computers downloads folder to be inside Dropbox; I want it to be on my computer. However, I can't find any settings to move it, and the help articles and previous discussions seem to discuss settings options that either no longer exist or don't do the same things anymore. There is no listed backup anywhere in my Dropbox. My downloads folder is just… inside the Dropbox, for reasons I don't understand, and I can't seem to figure out how to turn it off.

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Accepted answers

Jay

It looks like this is an old Dropbox computer backup, which used to move the folders into the Dropbox folder.

Are you able to move the Mac folder out of the Dropbox folder entirely, or just the Downloads folder to your home folder?

All comments

Jay

Hi @13eichenwaldr, thanks for contacting us!

Is it possible that you've enabled the Dropbox Backup feature for your account?

This will allow you to backup certain system folders, including the Downloads folder. Can you check to see if there is a backup visible on the Dropbox site?

Whatever details you can provide, even if they seem small, will help us get to the bottom of this together.

13eichenwaldr

See, I thought I had, but when I went to that link, there was no backup—backup hadn't even been set up. That's part of why I'm so confused.

13eichenwaldr

See, I thought I had, but when I went to that link, there was no backup—backup hadn't even been set up. That's part of why I'm so confused.

Jay

Could you clarify how the folder appears in the Dropbox folder? Is it within a subfolder, or just visible in the root folder?

In your next reply, could you attach a screenshot showing how the Downloads folder appears there.

13eichenwaldr

For some reason I can't see it on the web app, but it shows up in Finder and the files are all findable in the desktop app as well:

Jay

It looks like this is an old Dropbox computer backup, which used to move the folders into the Dropbox folder.

Are you able to move the Mac folder out of the Dropbox folder entirely, or just the Downloads folder to your home folder?

13eichenwaldr

That worked! I don't have a "home" folder, but I tried moving it to my computer user profile and it took.

Jay

That's excellent news! I'm glad to hear that you were able to resolve the issue.

If there's anything else we can assist with, feel free to reply back here!

13eichenwaldr

Hi, it did not help the main problem. My dropbox is now empty, it's saying 0 bytes used… but I still can't upload new things to it, as it's telling me that my dropbox is full and I need to upgrade.

Jay

It's likely that something else is taking up the quota on your Dropbox account, so we'll try to locate what that is together.

Could you attach a screenshot showing this page on your account online?

13eichenwaldr

Screenshot 2026-09-23 at 11.03.43 AM.png

Also, the 309 megabytes? There's a new downloads folder in there. Things are downloading to my dropbox instead of my computer again, so the previous fix didn't actually work.

Jay

Thanks for the info. Could you try the following steps on your machine:

Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar (Mac).
Click your profile picture or initials.
Click Preferences.
Click the Accounts tab.
Press the Option key (on Mac) and at the same time click the Reset OS folders locations button.
Click Continue.
In the pop-up window, click Continue to reset your OS folder to their default location and stop backup to Dropbox.

Your backup should be deleted and all files and folders will move back to their default locations.

Let me know if this helps!

13eichenwaldr

Hi, there is no Reset OS folders locations button. The buttons are "fix permissions," "fix hardlinks," and "reset file system warning options."

Jay

If you right click the Downloads folder and then Get Info, are you able to change the default location for the folder?

13eichenwaldr

Nope.

13eichenwaldr

Also my old downloads folder has been erased, which is exactly what I was hoping to avoid.

13eichenwaldr

Nevermind, found it.

Jay

Thanks for the update. Are you able to locate the old Downloads folder in the Trash on your Mac?

Is the Downloads folder also recreating the 'My Mac' folder in the Dropbox folder again?

A screenshot showing this would help me further!