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How to stop DropBox from asking whether to back up a USB stick

Whenever I connect a USB stick to my computer Dropbox pops up and asks me whether I want to backup that stick to Dropbox and I have to click that darn dialog away AGAIN. I never have and never will back up to Dropbox (I have my own NAS for that). So, how do I stop this annoying nonsense that I have never asked for?

And why is there no checkbox or button "Never ask me again"?

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Accepted answers

Rich

@mmo wrote:

Whenever I connect a USB stick to my computer Dropbox pops up and asks me whether I want to backup that stick to Dropbox ... how do I stop this annoying nonsense that I have never asked for?

You can disable it on the Backup tab in Dropbox Preferences.

All comments

Rich

@mmo wrote:

Whenever I connect a USB stick to my computer Dropbox pops up and asks me whether I want to backup that stick to Dropbox ... how do I stop this annoying nonsense that I have never asked for?

You can disable it on the Backup tab in Dropbox Preferences.

mmo

Thanks for the hint! It made me aware that my DropBox client obviously was in some odd state and while DropBox obviously still worked (as I could notice by these popups mentioned) and also properly synced files its icon did not show up anymore in the taskbar. No idea where it went...

Since I couldn't figure out, how to make it re-appear in the taskbar I un- and re-installed the DropBox client. Now it shows up again and I was able to open the preferences dialog and in that I was able to switch this off as suggested.

Thanks again!

WoofGrrrr

I have UN-CHECKED "Show setup notifications when new external drives are plugged-in." and I am STILL getting these pop-ups.

Is this not the way to turn these off?

Also, I clicked AUTO-PLAY settings and UN-CHECKED "Use AutoPlay for all media and devices" (it is Off.)

In addition, under "Choose AutoPlay Defaults", "Removable drive" is set to "Take no action" and "Memory card" is also set to "Take no action".

Hannah

Hey @WoofGrrrr, sorry to see you're having this issue.

Can you quit the Dropbox application, restart your computer and then restart Dropbox, to see if that helps?

unknown

The solution - disable it on the Backup tab in Dropbox Preferences - doesn't work for me. I cannot access Preferences, not on my Win 10 PC, not on the Dropbox web page.

Rich

anonymous wrote:
I cannot access Preferences, not on my Win 10 PC, not on the Dropbox web page.

You access Preferences from the Dropbox application on your computer; not the Dropbox website. Why are you unable to access Preferences? What happens when you try?

unknown

Thanks for responding Rich.

If I open Dropbox on the computer I see a file that looks exactly like any other open file on my computer. I see the documents I have saved there and a hidden file called .dropbox.cache. Nothing else. There is no 'tab' for Preferences. I can right click on the Dropbox icon in the menu, but there is no Preferences to choose there. I can look in Properties - but again I see no Preferences.

I can't see anything in the ribbon at the top of the Dropbox file either.

Rich

anonymous wrote:
If I open Dropbox on the computer I see a file that looks exactly like any other open file on my computer.

You're clicking the wrong icon. You need to single-click the icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac).

https://help.dropbox.com/account-settings/view-preferences

unknown

I'm sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it doesn't matter whether I right-click or left-click the icon, and it doesn't matter whether it's in my task bar, start field or picked from the list of 'all apps'. I still don't get a Preferences option. I have tried to get it to show up in my system tray, but it won't appear there. (I don't know why it should only be there that the Preferences option appears.) Do I perhaps need to remove Dropbox altogether and reinstall it?

Rich

anonymous wrote:
... it doesn't matter whether I right-click or left-click the icon, and it doesn't matter whether it's in my task bar, start field or picked from the list of 'all apps'. I still don't get a Preferences option.

None of those icons are the correct one. Those only start the Dropbox application if it's not already running, or open your local Dropbox folder. It needs to be the icon in your system tray (near the clock), and if you don't see a Dropbox icon you may need to click the up arrow ^ to display hidden icons.

I have tried to get it to show up in my system tray, but it won't appear there.

If you still don't see the icon in your system tray, then Dropbox isn't running. Try launching it from your Start menu and then look for the icon again. If you still don't see it, you may need to reinstall Dropbox. Try it without uninstalling first.

I don't know why it should only be there that the Preferences option appears.

Because that's the icon for the running application, which is where you manage Dropbox. The icon on your Start menu is only used to start the application; not access any of the options.

unknown

I managed to get the right icon to appear in the right place in the end. I don't know how, but I did it without re-installing Dropbox.

I also found the Preferences and was able to change the interface language to English. (It was showing everything in Swedish by default. Presumably because I'm located in Sweden.)

I've unchecked the box at "External Drive Backups" and that seems to have stopped Dropbox asking whether to back up a USB memory stick (which was my original issue).

So all's good. Many thanks for your patience, @Rich !