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Dropbox not starting for an hour (Mojave 10.14.6)

It must have been after a recent automatic update that Dropbox has stopped functioning well. I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 with Dropbox v168.4.4802. I have tried the various cures I've read about having to do with re-installing Dropbox, firewall settings, whitelist permissions, etc. I do have a virus app running, but Dropbox continues to misbehave even if I turn it off. I also have a very fast interconnection. What I'm seeing is that Dropbox takes like an HOUR to start up. If I leave it alone, it eventually gets going. The menu bar icon is showing that files are syncing (I think) while the icon dropdown window is still spinning on the starting up step. Worst is that until the thing clears itself, many of the files in the Dropbox folder will not open – I get a "corrupted" error message, or something of that ilk. The files do open if I jut go to the website. Plus everything is normal on my laptop where I'm running Big Sur. Please don't tell me I must upgrade my Mojave machine because there's a host of non-Dropbox reasons not to do that. I like Dropbox, but I'd be better off switching to another cloud storage app.

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Jay

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

When you say you re-installed the app, did you perform an advanced reinstallation, or by clicking this link?

This will help me to assist further!

wdogmx

Did not do the advanced re-install, it looks so ugly.

wdogmx

Okay, I'll try the advanced re-install - stay tuned....but honestly if getting Dropbox to work is gonna require me to use Terminal, there's something wrong with the program, right? Everything else in my system is fine and operating normally Has to be a bug in the Dropbox update.

wdogmx

No, the advanced install instructions did not work. In fact, the Terminal instructions didn't work. I followed them explicitly (yes, I have used Terminal many times before), and Terminal hung after the second command. I waited 15 minutes, thinking the process was taking a long time, then quit Terminal. I restarted the computer, deleted the Dropbox app, re-downloaded and re-installed, restarted again, but the same problem persists.

One more piece of info. though the app seems stuck on "Starting," the menu icon is showing files syncing. Also, though the icon dropdown menu says to sign in, clicking on that does nothing. But. If I select Prefs, and then account, it shows that I am signed in.

Nancy

Hi from me as well, @wdogmx.

There’s one more thing I’d like us to check; is there any chance that your Dropbox app is syncing locally more than 300k files?

I’m asking because syncing too many files may cause the Dropbox app’s performance to decline and lead to the issue you’re having. You can also check this Help Center article for more info.

wdogmx

I have no idea how MANY files are in my drop box. I can tell you it's holding 313 GB.

Jay

Do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?