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How do I remove the Dropbox icon from the Windows 10 file explorer?

Jeremy C.3

Since upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, there is a Dropbox icon in the Windows file explorer navigation pane. I already have a link to Dropbox and other cloud-storage options in the Quick links section of the file explorer, so I don't need this extra icon!

How do I remove the Dropbox icon from the navigation pane? And to be clear, I don't mean the quick-link, I mean the stand-alone 'system-type' icon in the navigation area.

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Rich

There is no option to remove it. Search the forums and you'll find a topic or two that contains some registry edits you can make to get rid of it, but I believe it just reappears on the next update.

Rick_M

The icon in question is confuzing because it points to dropbox.exe (not to the dropbox folder).

In other words it is a shortcut that you can just put in the trashcan on win7 - not sure how to do that yet in win10!

A.M.J. L.

There is a perfect way of getting rid of this: uninstall dropbox in windows 10 and tell your company and private environment that you don't use dropbox anymore as long as this unacceptable situation is continued.

That is what I did!

Irene W.

I have uninstalled dropbox in windows 10 and there is no option to delete the dropbox icon in the navigation pane in explorer. Anyone has a solution?

Rick_M

That "icon" sounds like a token or Most Recently Used (MRU) item. Only way I have found to clear 'em out is to use good ol' Ccleaner !-)

Irene W.

Thanks Rick, but that didn't work either.

Rick_M

I do not see the DB icon in Windows 10 (upgraded from win 8) File Explorer - so I cannot reproduce the issue. Rich (above) says it can't be removed, yet I don't see it!

What I do see is the Dropbox folder in the navigation pane.

Jeremy C.3

In the navigation pane, exactly! There must be some way to remove it, surely?

Rick_M

Jeremy, I do not understand what you object to: it is a DB icon that replaces the <folder> icon in windows. Beside "onedrive" you'll see their icon too.

You can always goto Windows "Properties" and change the icon:

"Properties" Customize tab "Change Icon" ...

Irene W.

Jeremy, I've gotten below solution from another forum and it worked for me. The icon finally disappeared from my navigation pane:

Hope this works for you too:

Open the start menu and search for "regedit", it should suggest "run command", with an icon of a blue block made of smaller blue blocks. click on that. be careful in this program, because if you start randomly deleting stuff in here, you can very easily crash your computer in a lot of different ways.

on the left pane of regedit, start going through the folders and get to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{E31EA727-12ED-4702-820C-4B6445F28E1A}"

on the right pane, you should now see some items. double-click on "System.IsPinnedToNamespaceTree", and it should open up a new little window. change "Value data" to the number 0, and click ok.

I rebooted my computer after the final step and the dropbox icon didn't reappear :-)

Jeremy C.3

Thanks Irene, I had already tried that and although the Dropbox icon disappears immediately, it reappears after reboot :-(

I even searched through the registry for all occurrences of the partial key "E31EA727" - there are about 4 or so of them altogether, all belonging to Dropbox, and some also containing the "System.IsPinnedToNamespaceTree" entry. I set all of them to zero, but still the wretched Dropbox icon reappears after reboot.

Rick M - I object because the icon doesn't belong there! It merely references an existing folder - it's not a separate drive, not a network location and not a library, it's just a FOLDER. There is no reason to create an icon there which just takes up space, especially in view of the fact that most* of the other cloud drive applications DON'T have an icon in the navigation pane, and thus they can all be grouped neatly under Quick Access by creating shortcuts for them if required.

* Note: In the case of OneDrive, the icon can be permanently removed by a registry edit and it stays removed. Not so with Dropbox, which is a pain.

Rick_M

Jeremy, can you post a partial-screenshot of what you see? (I just don't think I am seeing the same thing). Thanks, Rick

Jeremy C.3

Here's a .jpg showing the location of the offending icon. Note that I've got all the other cloud-storage folders listed neatly as required under "Quick access"...

>

Rick_M

Ok, navigate until the dropbox folder is in the right-hand pane, right-click on the icon, select "properties", Customize tab, then click the "change icon" button at the bottom. This will let you change the icon - at least for the moment. DB changes the icon to indicate "up to date", etc.

Jeremy C.3

Hi Rick M,

But I don't want to change the icon - I want to get rid of it from the navigation pane... and since this visible icon is at top level - at the same level as "Quick access", "Computer" etc., I don't see that there is any way to get it into the right hand pane.

Or do you mean, follow the path to the actual Dropbox folder, i.e. C:\users\Jeremy\Dropbox and get *that* icon in the right hand pane? If so, yes, I can change the icon there (and it changes to show an updated tick), but it doesn't change the appearance of the icon in the navigation pane (still a box), nor does it delete it from the navigation pane which is what I want to do.

Here's screenshot of the changed icon. Now what?

>

Rick_M

Now that THAT's clear (sorry it took me so long), it is clearly a Windows problem!-) What happens if you set the folder to "Hidden"?

Jeremy C.3

No, I'd say it's clearly a Dropbox problem. You can remove the icon from the navigation pane by editing the registry, but something consistently puts it back after a reboot - at least it does on my system. The smoking gun points to Dropbox, as far as I am concerned. Marking the actual Dropbox folder as hidden doesn't seem to achieve anything - it's still visible and so is the icon in the navigation pane.

Rajesh R Pai

I am having the same problem on my Windows 10 laptop. Waiting for a permanent solution to this annoying problem.

Rick_M

If you haven't already, submit a ticket at www.dropbox.com/support

mirasol e.

Go to your control panel

Uninstall dropbox from below

if you can't find control panel. just search for it in cortana

Jeremy C.3

"Uninstall Dropbox", mirasol e? This is supposed to be a technical forum. Yes I am sure that would get rid of the icon - and the application too. Absolutely! Now if you can come up with a way to remove the icon and keep Dropbox working, then I'll be happy. Otherwise, don't bother.

Alexis G.1

This Dropbox icon in Windows 10 is there by design of the new OS. I don't believe this is a big issue at all. It's useful for most users.

There is a lack of customization of some items in the OS. No problem.

There is some registry entries you can modify to hidde the icon, but the icon appears again after a restart or update.

Jeremy C.3

"This Dropbox icon in Windows 10 is there by design of the new OS. I don't believe this is a big issue at all. It's useful for most users."

Really?

Firstly, it is NOT there by operating system constraint. If it were, then we would also see icons for "Box", "OneDrive" and "Cloud Drive" - to name but a few - also in that area. Since we don't it's clearly a Dropbox design choice.

Secondly, nobody is saying it's a big issue, but the whole point of having a customisable GUI-based operating system is that it should be exactly that - customisable! It may suit YOU to have an icon in that area, but it doesn't suit ME. It serves no useful purpose in my scheme of things - I hate it and I want it gone!

Rant over. I'll get me coat...

Rick_M

Still there? How did you get rid of the "Onedrive" ?

Alexis G.1

Jeremy:

Windows is very customizable, but if everything was customizable, you will have a 70GB Operating System.

It's Windows 10 code who add the icon in the Windows Explorer.

You can try removing the icon by adjusting the keys in the registry and then change the permissions to avoid modification. I don't tested this workaround, I just read about all this yesterday.

Jeremy C.3

Rick: "How did you get rid of the "Onedrive" ?"

Well it's a while ago now, but I have a note which says:

To remove OneDrive from Navigation Pane:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}
Change value from 1 to 0

This has worked for me and it stays fixed through rebooots and windows updates. I am not sure if there have been any OneDrive updates, so it might possibly become visible again if there is one.

Alexis G: "It's Windows 10 code who add the icon in the Windows Explorer."

If you want to be pedantic, then "yes." But in the same way that a car goes around a corner because the driver turns the steering wheel. Dropbox is making a call to Windows every time it starts up, saying "Here I am, please display my icon in the Navigation Pane." Dropbox initiates the action, and there is no need for it. Other cloud storage programs either don't do it at all, or only set it ONCE upon installation (which we can then remove by editing the registry). Dropbox is just a PITA, calling code every time it starts up to tell Windows to place its icon there.

Alexis G.1

Nope. When the OS restarts, the namespace,delegatefolders,queryfordelay and shellfolder attributes in registry are updated by Windows 10 OS core, and the icon appears again. This is by design in Windows 10 OS.

Jeremy C.3

"When the OS restarts, the namespace,delegatefolders,queryfordelay and shellfolder attributes in registry are updated by Windows 10 OS core, and the icon appears again. This is by design in Windows 10 OS."

I expect you are correct in stating (most of) the above, but I don't buy the fact that windows is taking this action all by itself. If it were, then it would have to have a separate backup store of information used to overwrite or restore the registry. Can you tell us where this store is located then? Also if windows were to be taking such action, it would do the same for all the other cloud storage programs and not just Dropbox.

Alexis G.1

Also if windows were to be taking such action, it would do the same for all the other cloud storage programs and not just Dropbox.

Maybe Microsoft do this with Dropbox in the new OS because is the pioneer in cloud sync. Dropbox was launched on 2007 and other big competitors were launched on 2011, 2012 and 2014.

I don't work for Dropbox, but I have 20 years on IT and for me, is the best Cloud Sync app. I usually don't pay for apps, but I pay every year for Dropbox Pro, and I'm happy with it. I'm happy in having the Icon in the navigation pane as well!

Maybe Microsoft add it to the Navigation pane because Dropbox have more than 100 millions users!

Joel W.14

Answer to Alexis G:

What is it that you don't understand? He clearly states that he doesn't want the icon and plenty of other cloud services manage to operate on the OS without adding an icon in the navigation pane. There's simply not much else to the matter, the navigation pane is customizable and it should be. Dropbox should write their code so that there is an easy way of getting rid of their icon in the navigation pane if the user wants to do that. I prefer having the Dropbox icon in Quick Start, right next to Google Drive, and that the icon itself is not expandable. For me the Dropbox menu is often expanded when I open File Explorer and I have to scroll through hundreds of folders to even close it. I don't like it being that way, and I should be able to change it.

Your last post is just plain ridiculous. Whether Microsoft loves Dropbox or not they shouldn't allow Dropbox to force their icon upon us like this. But Dropbox is of course ultimately responsibly for this and should of course immediately give us users an option to get rid of the navigation pane-icon.