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How to get rid of the red circle on the dropbox icon in my menu bar? Mac desktop app.

Whenever someone comments on a shared file in dropbox, I get a red circle on the dropbox icon in the menu bar. This interrupts my workflow and I have to get rid of this feature if I want to get any work done on my computer.

I have turned off all notifications on Dropbox app and on my system preferences, but the red circle still appears. I think this is bad software development practice to circumvent system preferences (which allow you to choose which applications can show the badge app icon) by putting the red number in the menu bar (which the user has no control over).

I have now spent significant amount of time trying to find a solution to this, but I'm starting to fear it is impossible. I wish I had not updated dropbox, I have lost so much working time because of the update that introduced this red circle.

Has anyone found a way to permanently disable the red circle or to hide the dropbox icon from the menu bar completely? Is there a way to request this feature (or rather file a bug report, I can't believe the circle is there on purpose when notifications are turned off) from the dropbox dev team?

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Comments

Lusil

Hello @Pih, thanks for checking in and sorry to hear your frustration about this.

Since you mention that you've turned off the option to receive notifications, could you let me know what the current notification you get is about?

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Pih

Hi! Thanks for the quick reply, really appreciated!

It happens when someone comments on a shared pdf, see screenshot:
Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 20.38.14.png

Lusil

Just to have a better visual of it, could you send me a screenshot showing your notification settings in your desktop app and your system preferences?

If you have any trouble attaching an image in your next reply, just send it to me as a shared link, instead.

Pih

Here is the system side:
Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 22.29.44.png
Here's the Dropbox side if I turn on the notifications on system side for a second:
Screenshot 2020-11-09 at 22.30.09.png
But if system notifications are off, the Dropbox side looks like this (you can't see what is on and what is off):

Hope this helps!

Lusil

At this point, due to account-specific information that would be needed to have a better look into it, I'd say to continue via ticket.

Would it be alright if I reached out to you via email?

Pih

Sure! Thanks for your effort.

Lusil

No worries, @Pih!

I've sent you one, so when you have the chance, just check your inbox.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Itint

I have the same issue. For two months now there's a red circle with a 1. I've checked so many times, every single option in the menu and there's nothing. I've restarted, reinstalled and nothing gets that. This is so frustrating.

Screen Shot 2022-01-27 at 9.58.40 AM.png

Megan

Hey @Itint, happy Thursday!

Have you made sure that your notifications are all caught up when clicking on the Dropbox icon?

Also, what is your app's syncing status?

Let me know!

Pih

Just an update for anyone else with this issue:
I emailed back and forth with Dropbox about this issue in 2020, sent them a couple of screenshots after they requested them, got the latest version of Dropbox, reinstalled it again after request and what not, and after countless emails, I finally got a reply that said:
"After further investigation, it appears that turning off comments is only available to business customers. Since you are on a basic account, this option would not be available."

Anyway, I switched to Google Drive whenever I need to share files that other people comment on. I don't recommend trying to get the bug fixed, I wasted quite some time on that already. If the email support doesn't know the difference between "turning off comments" and "turning off notifications", I think there's no hope.

I wonder whether business users are indeed able to turn off notifications, including the red circle. At least it's not an advertised feature.

Kaasi

Since 2020? This is not acceptable. Having that red bubble with a "1" there for several months leads me to keep constantly looking there. I will try to switch to Google Drive. Thanks

peekaboo82628

You are indeed correct, after reading more than 20 threads about this issue, where Dropbox customer service team only requested the users to restart/reinstall/reboot the application/machine, which is such a common operations that a professional support should already prepare a manual to target any issues, I found that none of these "tricks" solved the issue.

Walter

Hi there @peekaboo82628, are you still having issues with this?

If so, could you send us a screenshot of the app's status and version as shown in your menu bar?

Thanks!

peekaboo82628

Hi Walter,

sure, I attached a screenshot in this reply. Please note that I have reboot the laptop, reinstalled Dropbox and relink my account multiple times, which don't help.

Screenshot 2023-05-15 at 12.05.23.png

Kind regards,

@peekaboo82628

Hannah

Hey @peekaboo82628, just to confirm, have you gone through the updating process for the Dropbox for macOS version of the app, that appears in your screenshot, using the "get started" link?

peekaboo82628

Hi @Hannah , thanks for the hint, I tried again and the red "1" sign disappeared.