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How to Change Location of Local Dropbox Folder, Win11 Home.

I am running Windows 11 Home Edition, NOT in S mode. I want to free up space on my c: drive by moving my local Dropbox folder to my d: drive. When I try to open the Dropbox app to look for the Sync tab, it doesn't work. A new file explorer window opens instead. There are no sync settings to be found. I have run the installer multiple times. I get no error messages with the installation, but each time I try to run the app, an explorer window opens instead.

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Rich

@Jason Gunderson wrote:
I right-clicked on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and got a two-item context menu: Dropbox (2) and Unpin from Taskbar.

You're clicking the wrong icon. That's just the icon for the application which, when clicked, will either launch the Dropbox application so it appears in the system tray if it's not already running, or will just open the Dropbox folder if it is already running.

The icon you need to click on is the one in your system tray, next to the clock. In your screenshot it's the icon with the red notification indicator on it. A single left-click will open the Dropbox menu. A double-click will open the Dropbox folder in Explorer. A right-click will open the legacy menu.

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Vicker

Hi, @Jason Gunderson ,

You may try to launch the Dropbox preferences first by clicking on the task bar icon. Please check out the official documentation below for the details.

How to view your Dropbox preferences in the taskbar or menu bar

https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/view-preferences

Cheers

Vicker

Jason Gunderson

@Vicker,

Thank you very much for responding. I have tried clicking the taskbar icon (both right-clicking and left-clicking) at least a dozen times, hoping for something new. (That's the definition of insanity, yes?) Sadly, it is the same old file explorer window that appears, open to my Dropbox files. There are no preferences to be found, no icon with my account initials, nothing. It's as if some setting is preventing the desktop app from opening, and triggering file explorer to open instead. I'm stumped.

When I open Dropbox in my browser (Chrome), I see an icon and some preferences, but those are all web-based preferences; there is no local sync location that I can find.

Thank you,
Jason

Jason Gunderson

I uninstalled Dropbox and reinstalled it. Then I went through the initial set-up procedure again and was able to successfully move my local storage to a new location. So for now, I've solved my problem. However, when I try to run the app again it still does nothing but open file explorer. This seems like a problem.

Walter

Hey @Jason Gunderson, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you send us a screenshot of the screen you get when you click on the app's icon in your system tray?

If you're running any antivirus or firewalls on your computer, you could temporarily disable them as well to see if they're causing this issue?

Any additional information is more than welcome, Jason!

Jason Gunderson

Walter, here is a screenshot of the Explorer window that opens whenever I try to launch the desktop app via any of three ways: click the Dropbox icon in the system tray, click "Open App" from the Windows menu, and even navigate to Dropbox.exe and double-click it.

Open Dropbox to Find Explorer.png

I am running Norton 360 and disabling the protection doesn't seem to help.

Thank you,

Jason

Nancy

Hi Jason, I hope it’s OK to jump in here and thanks for the screenshot!

What you describe is a bit odd indeed, as clicking on the small Dropbox icon in your system tray should show different options. Is there any chance you’re clicking on the Dropbox icon, and then on a small folder icon that’s located there?

If that’s not the case, I’d like you to right click on the small Dropbox icon instead and let me know what options you see there.

Keep me posted.

Jason Gunderson

Hi Nancy,

The more the merrier! I right-clicked on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and got a two-item context menu: Dropbox (2) and Unpin from Taskbar. The (2) is there because this is the second instance I put on the taskbar, just in case I had accidentally put on a folder that was hiding behind the Dropbox icon. I pinned this one on the taskbar by going to the Dropbox.exe file in Program Files (x86)>>Dropbox>>Client, right-clicking it, then clicking Show More Options>>Pin to Taskbar. I've attached a screen shot of the context menu. By the way, after clicking the Dropbox icon in the taskbar, the little indicator light below the icon NEVER lights up to show the app is running.

Thank you,

Jason

Rich

@Jason Gunderson wrote:
I right-clicked on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and got a two-item context menu: Dropbox (2) and Unpin from Taskbar.

Jason Gunderson

Thank you thank you thank you! I got fixated on the wrong icon. I feel silly, but it's worth knowing the solution now. 😉