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How do I stop the Dropbox from moving my Downloads, Documents and Desktop folders into the app?

How do I stop the Dropbox app from moving my Downloads, Documents and Desktop folders into the Dropbox folder ?

When I updated the Mac app it moved the dropbox folder into 'locations' set up links for Downloads, Desktop etc and moved all my Mac folders into the dropbox folder. Can undo that function so that my usual mac system folders remain where they are and dropbox goes back to being a drive on my MacBook?

(PS I do not have backup set up no do I plan to)

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Rich

@Noel H.5 wrote:
How do I stop the Dropbox app from moving my Downloads, Documents and Desktop folders into the Dropbox folder ? ... (PS I do not have backup set up no do I plan to)

Are you sure you don't have the backup feature enabled? The only time that your key folders are moved into Dropbox is when that's enabled.

https://help.dropbox.com/organize/how-to-manage-dropbox-backup

Noel H.5

I have the 'automatice backups' slider in the backup menu set to OFF.

...but you are right that seems to pause it rather than remove the backup. Any ideas how to stop the backup function. I have been looking around and I can not see where I stop it doing any backups.

Noel H.5

I have now stopped the backups to the point where it is prompting me to set up backups... but when I 'save to desktop' it still puts the files into the 'desktop folder in dropbox, not my desktop folder on my Mac.

Anyone know how to remove this divert?

Hannah

Hey @Noel H.5, when you were following the steps to disable backup on your computer, did you choose the "Keep content in folders on this Mac" option?

This should have moved your desktop folders back to their original locations.

bobbysimpson

How do you update your settings after the initial setup process? I'm unable to find any settings for Dropbox on my Mac. I can only see the Dropbox folder in Locations in Finder.

Nancy

Hi @bobbysimpson! Please check your menu bar (close to your clock settings), and click the small Dropbox icon that should be located there.

After that, go to your initials/profile picture > Preferences > Backups tab.

Let me know if that helps.

bobbysimpson

Thanks for the reply, but no, there's no dropbox icon in the Menu bar. I've never seen one since I installed this new version of Dropbox.

Nancy

It sounds like the Dropbox app isn’t syncing at the moment. Please open your Finder > Applications folder, and double click on the Dropbox app from there.

Are you seeing the Dropbox icon in your menu bar after a few seconds?

bobbysimpson

Nope! The app is running because I can see it in the Activity Monitor, but if I click on the Dropbox app, it just takes me to the Dropbox folder in Mac OS Finder.

Jay

HI @bobbysimpson, do you have a lot of icons in your menu bar? The Dropbox icon could be automatically hidden by Mac OS.

Could you try quitting some other apps from there to see if this helps to bring up the icon there?