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Dropbox files on PC are not showing up on the Dropbox website

I recently had to re-install Windows 10. I re-installed Dropbox using the install function from the Drobbox website. What shows in the Dropbox folder on my computer does not match what shows on the website. There are several important things I saved to Dropbox on my computer that are not showing on the Dropbox website and thus are not showing on my labtop. How do I fix this and not lose the new information that I "entered" on the computer?

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Hannah

Hey @schmidtsp, welcome to the Dropbox Community!

Can you let me know the sync status of the Dropbox application on your computer?

You can check that by hovering with your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your system tray.

Also, do the files in your Dropbox folder have syncing icons next to them? Green check marks or blue circling icons?

Keep me posted!

schmidtsp

Thank you for your response. My Dropbox situation is very confusing. This afternoon I found another "hidden" Dropbox folder under my username. It does not show up normally when I open File Explorer. (I have to click on the arrow next to quick access and choose my user name to see the Dropbox icon.) It seems to match the online Dropbox but does not include any files I have added to my PC Dropbox for the last 2-3 months. The PC Dropbox I have been using (that doesn't match the online Dropbox) is listed as a folder under documents. Neither the apparent "real" Dropbox folder listed under my username nor the Dropbox listed under documents has green sync checkmarks.

For a comparison, I opened the Dropbox icon/app on my laptop PC (Windows 10). It matches the online Dropbox and has green check arrows beside the file folders and individual files. Neither the laptop nor desktop PCs show the Dropbox icon on the system tray.

I'm not sure what to do to get everything in sync and the "real" Dropbox icon showing up on my desktop PC.

Hunter

Hey @schmidtsp, sorry for bumping into your thread.

It sounds like your "hidden" Dropbox folder, isn't actually syncing to your account.

Firstly you need to make sure the Dropbox application is always running (icon in your system tray).

To ensure that, you can run the Dropbox installer.

To find your active Dropbox folder, you can:

Open your desktop app preferences.
Click the "sync tab".
Note the "Dropbox folder location"

Any files you add in the above Dropbox folder location, will sync and upload to your account, as long as your Dropbox application is running.

schmidtsp

Thanks Hunter. I ended up copying all the files I had added to the nonsyncing folders (I had two of them for some reason) to a jump drive, uninstalling anything "Dropbox" on my PC, and then re-installing Dropbox from the Dropbox website. Everything seems to be working now. I'm not sure why it didn't install correctly the first time.

Larry Placido

This is my first time using Dropbox where I have copied over a file of photographs so I could do a preliminary edit when away from my desktop.

The file itself is large, with over 1000 images. When I tried to access the images, I found that only 117 were seen (they all had green check marks) on my laptop. But when I was on my desktop at home, ALL the images were seen and could be accessed easily.

I'm pretty close to my max limit on my account. I don't think that is the issue though...

This quite frankly has me stumped. I've never had any issues with accessing anything while on dropbox before.

Suggestions and/or help would be appreciated, thanks.

Megan

Hi @Larry Placido, let's look right into this!

Did you try to access the content using the website, or the app on your laptop?

It sounds like the content you added, while using your desktop device didn't sync.

There are a few reasons this might have happened: you didn't have enough space to the account, you closed the device before it had time to sync etc.

I suggest you have a look into this Help Center article.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Larry Placido

Hi Megan,

Well thinking back at it now... I accessed it via the app on my laptop. I know that my account is almost out of room.

And I might have closed Dropbox too soon. I'm going to go through that link that you sent me for the Help Center article. I'll let you know what I find.

It confuses me a bit because if Dropbox didn't sync correctly, why is it I can see all 1020 images in that file while on my desktop. But when I'm on my laptop, only 117 are shown?

And, if I were to delete that file on my laptop, would it delete it also on my desktop?

Thanks,

Larry

Jay

Hi @Larry Placido, if you hover over the Dropbox icon in the system tray/menu bar, does it state Syncing, up to date, or any other messages?

Larry Placido

Jay,

Currently, the system tray doesn't show dropbox. However, when I put my cursor over this blank area where the dropbox icon is supposed to be, it tells me, it can't sync because I am out of space. I accessed my account via the website to check on a few files just now.

At the top of the screen, I got a notice that my account is out of space and asked me if I wanted to upgrade.

So now, just from that, it is the lack of space that prevented everything from syncing together. OK, I understand that...

But, then my next question is, why does my desktop show all the images? If I were running out of room while I uploaded that particular file, why did all the images show up on my desktop then?

Or am I just overthinking this too much?

Larry

Megan

Hi @Larry Placido!

Your desktop might be having enough space, it's your Dropbox account that doesn't have the space to sync the changes.

Corina_

Good morning,

I used three devices with my account, a phone, a pc and internet where I manged my files.

Once that I uploaded something from the pc or even the web site it seemed to upgrade also in the other devices, so I had all my files together and a modify could be applied to the file in every station.

But last thursday I uploaded some files from the pc but the never appeared online and I don't have them any more.

How can I have my files back? They were copied in the app on the pc but the other times it was syncronized with other station and this time it didn't work.

Please help me, were important documents that I don't have anywhere now.

If I upgrade my profile can I have them back?

I don't know what to do.

Thanks in advice.

Corina

Rich

@Corina_ wrote:
... I uploaded some files from the pc but the never appeared online and I don't have them any more. How can I have my files back?

You placed the files in the local Dropbox folder so they would sync, but you don't see them online? If so, that likely means they haven't synced and would still be located in the Dropbox folder on the PC. Check the sync status on the PC by hovering your cursor over the Dropbox icon in your system tray (near the date/time).

Corina_

Hi Rich!
Yes I think they didn’t sync and wasn’t the first time happening, but I don’t have access on that local pc any more and I’ve deleted the station for that reason.
There is some possibility to find them anyway?
I thought I would have found them online as always but this didn’t happen this time.
If I update my account there is the possibility I can find them and restore ore something like that?

Rich

@Corina_ wrote:
I think they didn’t sync ... There is some possibility to find them anyway?

If the files hadn't synced, there's no way for Dropbox to recover them as they would have never made it to the Dropbox servers? The only way to recover them would be to go back to the PC where they were located, assuming they weren't deleted.

Corina_

Hi,
yes but the server showed that it was synchronized, there is some possibility the files are on the cloud and I can’t see them? And the support can help to find them?

Thanks

Walter

Hey @Corina - sorry to hear about your missing files.

If you don't see any signs of them in your events page, it means that they never made them to our servers so it would be impossible for us to help restore them.

I hope this clarifies matters!