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Dropbox icon will not stay in Notification Area of Windows 10 Taskbar

I am used to always seeing the Dropbox icon in the Notification Area of the Windows Taskbar. But for the last few weeks, it refuses to keep that as the default. I want it to stay there, because seeing it (and certain other icons) in "ready" mode are how I tell when it's safe for me to start MY work.

Every time I boot up, I have to go into Taskbar Settings, then under "Notification Area" click on "Select which icons appear on the taskbar". There, I find two entries. Both are titled "Dropbox", but one has a 2nd line that says "Dropbox 146.4.4836 Up to date". One of those (usually the 2-line entry) has been turned off. Whichever one happens to be off, I must turn it back on to get the Dropbox icon "permanently" visible again.

At the end of my session, if I put the pc in "hibernate", the settings stay put when I start the pc back up again. But every time I do a full shutdown, one or both of those settings is lost and must be reset the next time I boot up.

And again, this failure has only been happening for the last 3 or 4 weeks. Before that, it had never happened in all the years I've used DropBox. Is this some issue with the last DropBox update? Or perhaps a conflict with the latest Win10Pro update? (I've already tried asking Microsoft, but they had no clue.)

Can anyone shed some light on this and - if possible on my end - help me fix it?

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Accepted answers

Walter

Hi @tfd0926, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that it sounds like you're using the latest version of our desktop app.

With this version, we're transitioning to using GUIDs to manage the taskbar icon and some users will notice their taskbar icon position preferences will not be remembered during the transition.

You can find out more about this on this page.

I hope this helps to some extent.

All comments

Hannah

Hey @tfd0926, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please open the Dropbox app preferences and see if the 'start Dropbox on system startup' option is checked?

To find the preferences, click on that Dropbox icon in your system tray, then on your initials/profile pic and then on 'preferences'.

If it's already checked, uninstalling and reinstalling the application might help.

Just, if you have a free account, make sure you have less than 3 devices linked to your account, before uninstalling.

Let me know how it goes!

LuigiP

Anyone else having this issue, as soon I turn my computer on and load dropbox it shows and then disappears to to the hidden icons section. You got to taskbar options to make sure it appears on the main toolbar and next time its back in the hidden icons section.

But what I have noticed is there are two different dropbox options in the system menu

1. Dropbox

2. Dropbox (146.4.4836 Up to date)

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this

Jay

Hi @LuigiP, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Have you recently made any updates to Windows 10?

Could you attach a screenshot showing what you're referring to in the system menu?

This will help me to assist further!

LuigiP

Yes windows is completely up to date.

Attached are the photos 1#.PNG

Jay

If you enable both Dropbox mentions in the system menu, does it help at all with the taskbar icon?

LuigiP

How is the solution always to uninstall the app and reinstall it. Its only been an issue since the last dropbox update.

Dropbox makes an update, it breaks something why cant they fix the issue in another update.

LuigiP

And in answer to your question Jay, no it does not when you restart it always goes back to how it was.

Jay

Hi @LuigiP, thanks for the info, I'd recommend getting in contact with the support team directly for further assistance on this matter.

Once you get a ticket ID from the automated response, please let me know the number here so I can locate it in our system.

tfd0926

Thank you, Hannah, for your reply.

Yes, the 'start Dropbox on system startup' option is checked.

If I uninstall Dropbox and re-install it, what happens to the files I have that currently 'live' in the Dropbox folders? (I keep files there that I want to access from both my desktop and my laptop.) Do I have to move everything out and then start over from scratch after reinstalling?

And if, as someone else said, this issue started with a Dropbox update, is there not a better way to fix it?

Walter

Hi @tfd0926, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that it sounds like you're using the latest version of our desktop app.

With this version, we're transitioning to using GUIDs to manage the taskbar icon and some users will notice their taskbar icon position preferences will not be remembered during the transition.

You can find out more about this on this page.

I hope this helps to some extent.

tfd0926

Yesterday (Wed 4/27/2022) my Win10Pro updated itself. According to Belarc Advisor, I'm now running:
. . ."Windows 10 Professional (x64) Version 2009 (build 19043.1645)".
According to Windows (ControlPanel) > Settings > System, I'm now running:

. . ."Windows 10 Pro Version 21H1 (build 19043.1645)".

Since that update, I've shut the system all the way down twice and rebooted twice. The Dropbox icon is now staying visible in the Notification area, and both of the Dropbox switches in the "Select Which Items Appear ..." list have stayed in the "On" position.

I also noticed that the Dropbox version has changed. Before the Windows update, the Dropbox version was reported as "146.4.4836". Now it shows up as "147.4.4800".

Hopefully, that means that Dropbox and Win10Pro are now back on the same page, and that the problem is solved.

Thanks.