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Unable to stop popup asking me to back up thumb drives

Whenever I plug in a USB thumb drive to my PC, Dropbox asks me if I want to back it up. I NEVER want to back it up. The instructions I found said to go to my settings and select the BACKUP tab, which I so far have been unable to find. The Settings tabs consist of General, Plan, Security, Notifications (which does not include this option), Connected Apps, Default Apps, and Branding. I am a Dropbox Basic customer and have been using Dropbox for many years, and I did not start having this problem until recently. I have spent hours trying to solve this myself and I finally gave up. Please help!

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Accepted answers

Hannah

Hey @busyinla, welcome to the Dropbox Community.

The option to disable this pop-up, can be found in the Dropbox application preferences, not the online settings.

You'll find the preferences after clicking on the Dropbox icon in your
system tray.

Let me know how it goes!

All comments

Hannah

busyinla

Thank you! I didn't realize that there were settings there as well as the online one. Seems to have solved the issue!

RamiGraFX

Hi, I have the same problem. Click with the left or right button and get the same response. Get a list of recent backups, but no preferences to be found.All there is to be seen are 2 tabs sync and backups and activity, plus 5 icons across the top. NO PREFERENCES IN VIEW

Hannah

Hey @RamiGraFX, once you click on the Dropbox icon, you'll need to click on your initials/profile pic to see the 'preferences' option.

Let me know if that's not what you see on your end!

philipjhunt

When I go to Manage Backups I just get the option to start a backup, not to stop the prompts. I just want to stop Dropbox from asking me if I want to backup the USB drive EVERY time I plug one in. Screenshot 2023-05-15 094853.png

Jay

Hi @philipjhunt, in the Preferences in the Dropbox desktop application, on the Backups tab, there should be a checkbox for external drive backups. This is before you click the option to manage backups.

Is the checkbox ticked or empty?

philipjhunt

It's not ticked now. Thanks. Too easy when you know how.

SteveRMann

You said: " there should be a checkbox for external drive backups"

And a few weeks later it's checked again.

THIS SHOULD BE AN OPT-IN option. Not opt out. Especially when a few weeks later, it gets turned on again all by itself.

I NEVER, EVER, FOR ANY DEVICE, AT ANY TIME want to see this prompt again.

What part of NEVER, and FOR ANY DEVICE don't you get?

BenDBX

Hi @SteveRMann,

Your settings should stay the same unless you sign out and sign back in. Signing out and back in resets your settings in Desktop preferences. You should be able to prevent your backup preferences from resetting by staying signed in.

If this isn't the case, and you're staying signed in but seeing your Desktop preferences reset, let me know and I will pass that information onto the appropriate team for a deeper look.

Regards,

Ben

SteveRMann

You completely miss the point. NEVER- EVER do I want this prompt.

It should not matter if I log out of DropBox.

This should not be an opt-out "feature" in the first place.

BenDBX

Hi @SteveRMann,

Thanks for your feedback. I've passed it onto the appropriate team. For the time being, you can stay logged in on your device to prevent backup preference from being reset.

Regards,

Ben