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"can't be opened because the original item can't be found" problem

Ugh. I don't know what happened. Drop box was asking me something and I must have clicked agreed to something and now all my files and folders "can't be opened because the original item can't be found" and I'm freaking out. I followed an early thread about disabling the backups (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Storage-Space/Desktop-can-t-be-opened-because-the-original-item-can-t-be-found/td-p/530856) but I didn't see any option for "Adjust settings" and "disable backup" I get an option to start a back up (if I remember correctly)

I pray there is a solution to this....

Help me obi wan! You're my only hope.

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Jay

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

What OS version are you running on your machine?

Do the files you're trying to open have a green tick icon next to them, or something else?

This will help me to assist further!

scy

Hi. Thanks for your help. I'm on mac os 10.12.6

I also can't get to any folders to see any files so I don't know if there are any green ticks. I had shortcuts all on the left side of my finder to all my important folders that when I try to access it says "cant' be opened because....."

Jay

Are you able to locate the Dropbox folder directly from the left navigation pane, and then access the files in the right hand pane?

scy

I do have one drop box folder on the left side that I can access and see inside that doesn't seem to have any of the files I can't access, but I'm wondering if I had two accounts/dropbox set ups on this computer if that is possible.

scy

I was able to find a folder called “Dropbox (old)” which I can access and it seems to have all my files including the ones I last updated/added last night when the issue occurred.

scy

Also as a side note I’m not sure if I ever set up Dropbox correctly. Does drop box duplicate the files I back up to Dropbox on my hard drive?

I think the thing that sparked issues with Dropbox was that my logic board was replaced a short while back and drop box was having some sort of issues that I didn’t have time to deal with it so I ignored it. I logged in once and i think it was trying to sync or something and never seemed to complete it? And then last night I agreed to some prompt from Dropbox and it all went haywire.

Thanks for your patience and I apologize I’m not able to be super precise and articulate with what happened.

Hannah

Hey @scy, sorry to jump in here.

If you have a "Dropbox (Old)" folder, it might be that this computer was previously linked to a different account than the one you have linked now.

If you click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then on the little folder icon next to your initials/profile pic, where does that take you?

And if you then click on your initials/profile pic, then on "preferences" and then on "account", do you see a different email address than your main one?

scy

Hi. Thanks for your help

When I click on the folder it takes me to a Dropbox folder that does NOT have all the files I’m having issues with. It has a few random files.

When I click on my initials I see my main email. When I click on preferences and then account it is still my main personal email. I’ve had Dropbox for a very long time and perhaps my first and main account was with a different email that became unusable after someone bought the domain right when it expired. Sorry I can’t quite remember all the details.

Hannah

I see, thanks for this info, @scy.

What you could do in this case, is to simply move the files from the Dropbox (Old) folder to the one with the random files.

The one that currently has the random files is the Dropbox folder that's actually syncing.

So, if you move the files from the old Dropbox folder to it, they will sync and basically get uploaded to your Dropbox account.

I hope this clarifies things, but let me know if you still have questions!

scy

Hi. Thank you for the response and the help.

I have a few questions. Sorry in advance if they are dumb.

1) If I move everything in "Dropbox (old)" into the other dropbox folder, I assume I will need to update all the folder short cuts on the left side of my finder window so they work?

2) What will happen the dropbox account and the files associated with "dropbox (old)" that I assume are backed up the dropbox cloud?

3) if all the old files are greater than the capacity of the working dropbox account what happens?

4) Is drop box duplicating my files on my computer?

5) Should I be concerned that when I go the dropbox from the menu and and it get to the area of "manage backups" it says "lets get started" for my mac. It appears like nothing is backed up.

Thanks again for your patience and help!

Hannah

Hey @scy, not a problem! Let me see if I can answer your questions:

1) If after the move, the shortcuts don't seem to work, you might need to update them indeed.

2) Since the Dropbox folder on your computer is named "Dropbox (old)" that means it's no longer syncing. So any changes you make to this folder, won't sync to the account that contains these files online.

3) If by adding the files to the working Dropbox folder, the account goes over quota, it will just stop syncing.

4) Dropbox is not duplicating your files, but if you're using the Dropbox application, any files you have in your account online, will sync locally as well, so they might take up your hard drive space.

5) If you have a different account linked to the computer now, it probably makes sense. Do you see a backup folder in the old Dropbox folder?