Child Item

Change settings so my Downloads are not put in Dropbox

Hello, I have a new MacBook Pro and a Cameo Silhouette. I've noticed that whenever I download files for my Silhouette they are automatically placed with my Dropbox files. How do I keep this from happening? I use the free version of Dropbox for a project I'm working on and want to keep work and personal files separate.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Web

Download

Insightful

Closed - Not for right now

Accepted answers

Daphne

Thanks for the additional info there @sherronnebattle.

It does sound like you have the Dropbox app installed on your computer, which will be syncing files in a local folder called "Dropbox".

However, it sounds like you might have the computer backup feature enabled to sync your Downloads folder.

Can you please follow the steps towards the bottom of this article to disable the backup and let me know if that does the trick?

All comments

Lusil

Hi there @sherronnebattle, thanks for checking in with us.

If you're downloading these files from the website, could it be that your browser is set to download files directly to the Dropbox folder?

Do you get the same behavior if you do this from another browser?

Have a look and let me know what you find, cheers!

sherronnebattle

Hi @Lusil ,

I have no clue. How do I find out? I contacted Silhouette America and here's the response I got from them:

When purchasing files, they should automatically download to your library in the software. If you wish to download them to your computer, you may click the Download Now button on the checkout page of the Design Store. Furthermore, I would contact Dropbox directly for more information on moving information from there system, to your computer directly.

Thanks for responding to me @Lusil .

Lusil

When you download files from the Dropbox website, they are saved to the default location the browser has set to add files to.

Are you able to access another browser remotely?

sherronnebattle

Hi @ Lusil. Thanks for getting back to me. Safari is the browser that I use. I have Google Chrome installed on my laptop but I never use it.

Daphne

To help us isolate the root cause, can you try using the other browser to see if the files are being saved in Dropbox from there too @sherronnebattle?

Also, can you double check for me to see if the Downloads location for Safari is set to Dropbox?

If you're not familiar with this, you can do this by:

Opening Safari on the computer.
Choose "Safari" from the menu bar.
Go to "Preferences".
Click "General".
Choose the "File download location" and let me know what it shows there.

sherronnebattle

Hi Daphne,

Thanks for your response. I’ve followed your directions and opened Safari. The “File Download Location” box has a picture of a blue file folder labeled “Downloads”. When I clicked on the box the options are 1) “Ask for each download”, and 2) “Other”.

Daphne

How about when you try using another browser @sherronnebattle, do the files still get downloaded to the Dropbox folder?

If you have a look within the Downloads folder on your computer, do you see the files there with the Dropbox sync icon, or they only appear within the Dropbox folder?

sherronnebattle

Hi Daphne,

I haven't tried using another browser yet but I did see a 2 or 3 files with the Dropbox symbol beside them. I didn't see a Dropbox folder. I'm also not sure what's going on. I deleted a picture I no longer wanted and got the following message" "If you change your mind, you can move (name of file) out of your Trash or restore recently deleted items on dropbox.com." When I right click a got a screen with a series of 'Quick Actions' that all were Dropbox related. These actions included: Share, Send with Transfer, Copy Dropbox Link, Version History, View on Dropbox.com, View Comments, Get more space to sync this file, Open in Dropbox and Don't sync to dropbox.com. Would it be helpful if I highlight all the files/folders within my Downloads folder and select the option "Don't sync to dropbox.com"? Would this solve the problem? My use of Dropbox is only to retrieve info created by others so that I can email them as requested.

Daphne

sherronnebattle

Thanks so much for your help, Daphne. On the page where it says, "Stop backing up to 2 folders?", I selected "Leave content in Dropbox", which says that I won't see the content in my Mac folders. I stopped the automatic backup to my desktop and downloads. Let me know if this was done correctly and if there's anything else I need to do. Thank you again for your patience and your detailed instructions.

Daphne

If you wanted to keep those files in Dropbox for now, then you should be all set @sherronnebattle!

Otherwise, if you want to remove some of the files that were backed up from those folders, you can just move them out of the folder in Dropbox.

Nothing will be backed up automatically now though, so your browser downloads will just go to the computer's Downloads folder.

I'll be just a post away if you have any other questions!