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Syncing different Apple devices. How to achieve updating the iMac?

Recently (over a month ago) I had to swap out the hard drive on my iMac. I thought the new system would automatically sync with dropbox. Now my iPhone, pad and laptop all show updates as of the old system swap out date, which is what the online version of Dropbox also shows. I do 99% of my work on my desktop iMac, so I need the iMac info to be the online stored information. When I realized this and tried to sync the desktop, Dropbox tries to download the online version of info to the iMac, when I want the iMac information to be uploaded to Dropbox online to be the stored information for all devices. I hope that is not too confusing. Thank you.

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Walter

Nope, I can't think of anything to be honest, this would be a way to approach it I assume.

For the files you'd be deleting from Dropbox, you'll be able to restore them from the deleted files page or the events page if needed.

Let us know of any updates @John j.15

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Megan

Hi @John j.15, happy Friday, let's jump into this!

When you say that you think the system would automatically sync with Dropbox, can you let me know more?

Keep in mind that your desktop app, should show and sync, what you also see when you visit your account online. Do you see something different on your iMac?

Do you add content on your iMac, that doesn't reflect online? If something different happens, let me know, and we'll take it from there. I just want to make sure that we're aligned, before I proceed, and give you the next steps.

Keep me posted!

John j.15

I'll try to explain this best I can. My desktop iMac (my main device) does not show the same content that Dropbox online, iPad, iPhone or MacBook Pro do, the desktop iMac shows more. My guess is, it hasn't been syncing for a while and I didn't know it. Now I need for Dropbox (and all other devices) to mirror the content on my desktop iMac. I guess the question is, how do I get the iMac content uploaded to Dropbox to be the repository of all my info? Thank you.

Megan

Got it @John j.15, thanks for that!

Let's check if the app on your iMac is updated, and syncing properly. Can you check the app's syncing status, along with its version?

You should be able to do this by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, on your menu bar, next to your WiFi.

John j.15

Hovering over the dropbox logo at the top of the Mac says "Dropbox 177.4.5399 up to date." When I synced the Mac with the new hard drive (1 month ago), it uploaded the online version to Mac. Now I have the old dropbox info (pre new hard drive) that I have been using all along showing in Finder (and would like to make that info the online info) and the Online version that downloaded to the Mac when I connected using the new hard drive. I now show inactive & active Dropbox personal accounts in Finder. I would like to take the old version of dropbox (which I have been using all along, but not connected to online dropbox) from my Mac and override what is online. I have only worked using the old version on my Mac. The online version was only looked at for info while I was on mobile devices, not content creation. Thank you.

Walter

Hey @John j.15, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that since the app will try to sync the files you see on your other devices and the website, you'll need to manually upload any files or folder you had been working on locally on your computer and then let the app sync on all of your devices.

I know it's not optimal, but I hope this helps!

John j.15

Thanks for jumping in Walter. Since it has to be a major action, I'm thinking of deleting all online info/contents/files, then upload what I have on my desktop. Is there a potential problem I'm not thinking about? Thank you.

Walter

Nope, I can't think of anything to be honest, this would be a way to approach it I assume.

For the files you'd be deleting from Dropbox, you'll be able to restore them from the deleted files page or the events page if needed.

Let us know of any updates @John j.15

John j.15

Thank you.

Walter

No worries, John. I'm just glad I could help.

See you around and take care!