Dropbox on my Mac does not sync with my account in Dropbox.com

Question

I use Dropbox for web storage. [I do not have and DO NOT WANT the Dropbox desktop app; it pretty much destroyed my computer by hiding all my files in the Library, and I'm still trying to recover from that. So, I do not have a Dropbox icon in my menu bar or in my Applications folder and cannot tell you what version I'm using -- if there IS a version to the web-storage-only Dropbox.]

I have a Dropbox personal account with 2 TB of storage.

That said, I have a Dropbox folder in Finder in my User on my 2023 M2 MacBook Pro. It is not synced with my Dropbox.com account. There are both folders and "loose" files (files that are not in folders) that show up in my Dropbox folder in my computer but are not present in my Dropbox.com web view.

Contrary-wise, there are files that my husband has shared with me from his Dropbox account that show up in my Dropbox.com web view but not in the Dropbox folder in my computer.

This is all one account. How can I get the online Dropbox and the Dropbox folder in my computer to synchronize with one another??

lexysmom · Answer

When I installed the Dropbox desktop app, Dropbox took ALL of my files and put them in a "secure location" in the System's Library, where they were very difficult to access. They were no longer available in Apple's Finder AT ALL. I spent several weeks chatting with Dropbox support about the problem, but they were unable to fix it and make my files available again. I ended up completely erasing the entire computer and re-downloading my files from Apple's iCloud in order to get back to having a usable computer, at the expense of many days' worth of my time, and Apple's support time. I don't ever ever ever want to even consider installing Dropbox desktop again, and am actively seeking another solution for accessible external file storage. -- Meanwhile, BEFORE this debacle, the files that appeared in my computer's Dropbox folder WERE synched with the files that showed up in my account in Dropbox.com. I would like them to continue to be so, and Dropbox should be able to make this happen, without again destroying weeks of my life, and my computer!!

Walter · Answer

Hi there @lexysmom, thanks for posting on our Community and happy Monday!

I'm afraid that without the desktop app running and syncing on your computer, those files you mentioned won't be synced to the web version and vice versa. You'd need to manually upload and/or download them from the website whenever needed.

When you use the desktop app though, your files in Dropbox will be synced to your computer's Dropbox folder and any changes you make on them will be reflected on the website.

I hope this helps clear things up and please let me know if you have any other questions.