Child Item

Upload entire folders to Dropbox

I'm trying to upload a folder and all of its subfolders to Dropbox (actually I have a bunch to move, but I'm just trying to do one for now). The folder has multiple subfolders and each subfolder of course has files in it. Recreating every single folder and subfolder for everything on my computer that I need to upload is not an option since it would be an extremely tedious and time consuming project.

My intention is to upload all of the desired folders to Dropbox, then delete them from my computer and sync all of them so that I can access them from most anywhere.

How do I handle this?

Find more posts tagged with

Sync

Upload

Closed - Partially Delivered

Accepted answers

ahmed924944

It seems that this is not the fault of Dropbox. The fault seems to be with Firefox and other browsers (with the exception of Chrome). Also, same thing happens in Google Drive, can only drag and drop / upload folders there successfully with Chrome. According to the following website, http://superuser.com/questions/909112/does-firefox-support-folder-upload , Firefox is aware of this bug, and has been testing fixes with nightly beta trials. Hope this helps...

All comments

Philip T.2

Figured it out

danielle s.1

can you share how you did it? I have the same question.

M E.8

I've spent days trying to figure this out. No information anywhere that I can find. I ended up deleting dropbox. It should not be this complicated. Even their help information doesn't tell you how to do it. I have installed the desktop app again. Nothing changes. It still won't work. Anybody know what to do? This has not been a very active thread. I find that very discouraging.

Tom_H

Place the folders, in the Dropbox folder on your computer, they will be uploaded just like individual files.

https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/sync-time

B R.2

Philip T. could you share your findings to upload folder with subfolders?

Adeem D.

Dragging and dropping folders from your desktop/laptop to drop box on the web moves the folders and their sub folders to dropbox. There is a maximum upload limit of 3000 files.

Michael S.201

Due to a miserably slow upload link I cannot use dropbox synch feature so I have to manually upload files I want and cannot find a way to do that.

Rich

You can upload multiple files at once by selecting them and dragging them into the Dropbox window in your browser. You cannot, however, do that by dragging a folder.

Bobby W.1

Seriously i can't freaking believe have hard this is... i bought Dropbox because i thought is was going to be easier but you cannot, upload a folder with multiple subfolders. I literally spent 8 F******* hours organizing in my external so that i can simply "DROP" my F****** file in here. I'm so disappointed.

Alexis G.1

Bobby.

I don't understand. Upload folders, sub folders and files in Dropbox is a piece of cake. Just move the Main Folder you want to upload to Dropbox folder.

When Dropbox detect the new content, the app will start uploading the files to the cloud. It's easy. It's simple.

Time required for upload depends on your Internet connection, the amount of files and the size of the files as well.

Gilbert R.1

It seems to only work with Crome. You can drag and drop a folder via the Crome Web Browser and it will upload a folder. If you do it via Safari or Firefox, it will not work. It took me forever to figure it out.

David W.82

I have about 250Gg in multiple folders on an external hard drive . I want to upload all folder/files to drop box (i have a 1TB account). I cannot drop them in my Laptop dropbox folder because I do not have enough space . how can i drop these folder into Dropbox online??

Alexis G.1

David.

One workaround:

Get a PC with enough space and install Dropbox.
Use your credentials
Enable selective sync and only sync one folder with just few files
Add the 250GB folder on this PC, into the Dropbox folder
Enable this folder to sync with Selective Sync
250GB will be uploaded to Dropbox. wait until upload is finished.
On your laptop, enable selective sync and be sure this 250GB folder is not checked

At the end, you can uninstall Dropbox from the PC

Results: you will have your 250GB folder in Dropbox, but your laptop will keep the free space.

Let me know if is clear for you.

note: Dropbox is not a backup APP. I encourage you to backup your data into dvd, bluray, hdd or any other media on regular basis

John P.121

Like David W. I have numerous files with complex subfolders on external hard drives that I would like to have available on dropbox. I do not have sufficient storage available on my local drive to drag and drop the files into dropbox and I cannot get another computer for that purpose. From what I have read it appears that drop box is not able to upload multiple folders from external drives via dropbox.com. Does this mean that the only way to move my folders (hundreds of folders and subfolders) would be to spend hours manually recreating the file structures on dropbox.com?

ahmed924944

I was able to drag and drop / upload multiple folders to Dropbox with Chrome only. Can't get it to work with Firefox. Anybody know how to make with work with Firefox?

Rich

You can't. Dropbox does not support uploading folders at all. It works in Chrome but is not supported. You can upload single files or multiple files in a single selection, but not folders.

M E.8

This thread was started 17 months ago and still Dropbox has not added this feature. With all the backup and cloud solutions that currently exist, I am surprised that Dropbox is content with being passed over. I began using dropbox when my raid0 hard drive started to go. I couldn't depend on it so I had to manually upload every single important file, many of which were in folders. In the past 17 months (no, I can't afford other drives; bit by bit I have purchased externals when I could afford them) I have probably wasted weeks of time working with dropbox.

I'm hoping to be in a position to purchase a new computer in the next few months. If Dropbox has not updated its functionality by then, I will be looking elsewhere. I'm sure others have done so as well.

Mark

I have uploaded folders with sub folders quite successfully now for many years using the web interface (my work doesnt allow install of the software). It works as long as you dont have lots of directories in the folder and a reliable internet connection.

ahmed924944

Mark Mc, what web browser are you using? I can only get Chrome to drag and drop / upload folders successfully to Dropbox. I even tried one folder including just one file with Firefox and Internet Explorer, didn't work. Firefox and Internet Explorer kind of fake you out, the "green border" to drag and drop / upload shows up, but then the upload stalls without an error message. Perhaps a configuration setting with Firefox and Internet Explorer? This all goes away if you install Dropbox software and sync your PC, but I cannot install Dropbox on my work computer. Frustrating... I have hundreds of folders which I backup... if it wasn't for the Chrome fallback, I would have dumped my Dropbox.

Rich

I can only get Chrome to drag and drop / upload folders successfully to Dropbox.

Correct. It only works in Chrome. It will not work in Firefox or IE. Mark is on a Mac, so maybe Safari as well, but he'd have to answer that.

ahmed924944

Mark

Sorry, didnt see this reply Ahmed.

I'm using Chrome on a Windows 7 machine at work.

Thanks for the update post though.

Annie B.5

I have read this whole thread and have tried all of the above as I am also trying to back up everything on my external hard drive to my dropbox (1tb)

I also have multiple folders with sub folders and no time to fluff around copying them individually.

I have an Asus laptop that runs windows 8.1 and chrome.

Can anyone please give me a straight answer on how to do it?!

Razvan Boxifier

Here is a link with solutions for this: http://www.dropboxwiki.com/tips-and-tricks/sync-other-folders

ahmed924944

I was also able to use Opera to drag and drop / upload folders. In summary, Opera yes, Chrome yes, Firefox no, Internet Explorer no.

ahmed924944

Anybody try this with Safari? I don't have a Mac / iPhone to try it myself.

ahmed924944

UPDATE: I was able to use the new version of Firefox to drag and drop / upload folders. In summary, Firefox 50.0 yes, Opera 36.0 yes, Chrome 49.0 yes, Internet Explorer 8.0 no, Safari unknown.

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community here.]