Hidden backups are driving me nuts

Question

Dropbox used to make my life so much easier.  I had access to all my work folders remotely.  But then it was changed to hide backup folders and when one selected it takes me to a web page where I can download the file.  This is so frustrating.  This seems to go against the dropbox philosophy of "magic" access on all linked systems.

I imagine this change was made because it was too tempting to make changes to backup files which were then overwritten by the next backup sync.  Can't they be made read-only or something?

I'm sure this isn't the first time this has come up, but it would be nice if I could select which folders made up my dropbox collection.  Then it wouldn't be just the one dropbox folder that is shared but several and I could share all my important stuff everywhere.

Nancy · Answer

I can see your point, @rghartwig. I’ve sent your feedback to our team as well, so that your comments are visible to them.

Now, a workaround that you can perhaps try to make these folders more easily accessible via the desktop app, is to create a shortcut to your online Backups page (or to each one of your backed up folders on www.dropbox.com) within your local Dropbox folder.

rghartwig · Answer

Only my dropbox folder is shared and accessible everywhere I'm signed on (desktop and laptop), making it a joy to work with.  The backup items (external drives, user folders such as Desktop, Downloads, and Documents) are now hidden away in the backups section and mostly only accessible from the Dropbox website when working remotely.

This is not a problem that's happening to me, it is just the way Dropbox works now.  But I find it extremely inconvenient.  I used to have a directory in my Dropbox folder for each computer with backups of Desktop/Documents/Downloads and also a directory for each external drive backed up.  Then Dropbox took this away and moved these things to a Backup section.  I believe they did this so you wouldn't be tempted to make changes to those files remotely.

Before the change, I could access all my important stuff remotely.  Now, If I really, really need a file while working remotely, I can go to the website and download it.  This is a pain in the neck.

Nancy · Answer

Welcome aboard the Community, @rghartwig.

Can you please clarify for me if this is happening with computer backup (for your Desktop/Documents/Downloads folders), or after backing up your external hard drive to your Dropbox account?

Feel free to send over a couple of screenshots of what you see as well, if you prefer.

Keep me updated!