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My Mac appears as "Unlinked", syncing icons missing and unable to open files

sarasheep

Screenshot 2024-04-15 at 11.28.37 PM.png

Anyone experience similar situation?

My Mac is suddenly disconnected from dropbox and on the website it shows "Unlinked".

All my files are missing icons and I cannot open files either.

However my dropbox app shows that all my files are synced.

It is werid!

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Dropbox Backup

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Hannah

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, @sarasheep.

If you take a look at the list of connected devices in your account settings, does this computer appear in the list?

Also, if you click on your Dropbox icon, do you see your profile pic/initials, so you can click on it, to go to the "account" tab in preferences and see that the app is indeed linked to your account?

Let me know what you find.

sarasheep

Hannah, thanks for reaching out.

I have checked the list of connected device in my account setting and yes my mac does appear in the list;

and Also my profile appears when i click my Dropbox icon & in the account tab in Preference, the app is linked to my account.

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @sarasheep!

That's pretty strange indeed.

What do you see when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

sarasheep

Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 11.33.18 AM.png

Hannah, this is what I see when i hover around over the Dropbox icon, i think it's showing the progress of the back up

Megan

Hi @sarasheep, thanks for the heads up!

Essentially, the initial screenshot you sent us, with the "unlinked" status, had to do with Dropbox Backup, not the app itself.

Your app seems to be up and running, and still connected to the account, but the Backup isn't.

If you access the app's preferences, and specifically the Backups tab, what do you see when you click Manage Backups?

Also, does the indexing of the files make any progress, or is the file count stuck like that?

sarasheep

Hannah, this is what my backup tab shows, please see below:

Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 1.57.12 PM.png

Now that my backup has finished, all my previously online files had went local, and the file "mac" has disappeared in my dropbox app.

Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 1.59.02 PM.png

sarasheep

It's good to know that my files aren't gone, they just went offline and are disconnected from the Dropbox. However, I cannot find a way to reconnect my Mac files to Dropbox Backup...

Thank you.

Megan

Hi @sarasheep, when you say that your files went offline, and are disconnected to Dropbox, what do you mean?

Are you referring to the status of these files? Also, are you able to see your Mac files when visiting your account online?

If you wish for your Downloads, Desktop and Documents to be connected to Dropbox Backup, you can try following these steps.

sarasheep

Hannah, offline files refers to all my previously online files are downloaded somehow and occupy space in the drive. And I cannot access to them when I open my Dropbox app.

So that answers your second questions, no I cannot see my Mac files when visiting my account online/via linked mobile app.

I've tried the steps you provided and no Mac files are backed up. :'(

Megan

Hey @sarasheep, earlier you sent me a screenshot of the app's syncing status, which wasn't updated yet. Is it still the same?

I'm asking, because I want to identify if that might be the culprit as to why you're not seeing your files locally.

Also, I can see from the latest screenshot that the Dropbox folder only has your camera uploads & Vault there. Is that all that should be there?

I'd also love a screenshot of the app's preferences, and specifically what you see when you click your Backup tab, and them Manage Backups.

sarasheep

Hannah, please see the screen cap of my Backup status (which is "Done") and Backup files (desktop, documents & downloads), which are missing from the Dropbox app.

Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 10.43.53 PM.png

sarasheep

I deleted the dropbox app from my Mac and tries reinstall & relink my account, however new problem arises /_\ why is this so hard... Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 11.06.59 PMedit.jpg

Hannah

Thanks for keeping us updated, @sarasheep, and sorry to see you're having trouble.

Did you try to follow the steps shown in this error message? What was the outcome?

sarasheep

Hannah, I couldn't find the Dropbox file anywhere so the steps weren't really helpful. However after many attempts to install the app suddenly it works again, so my Mac is linked to dropbox again and now that the problem is solved. Thanks for your advices along the process.

Hannah

Oh, that's good news, thanks for letting me know, @sarasheep!

If you do come across any other issues, don't hesitate to post here again.

Have a great day!

JoannaM

I'm having the exact same issue on Mac! My files exist locally, but they no longer show up on Dropbox. The device still shows up, and says it's synched, but also no files in the Device folder on DB. It appears to be an issue with Macs - mine started today around 11am, after I got a notification to install a dropbox backup update.

Edit: I saw that yours worked again after uninstall/reinstall, so here goes 🤞🏻

Edit 2: No success yet, but in the Dropbox on the browser, in Dropbox Backups, I can see that my Mac is "backed up", and the files are stored locally. But this isn't what I want / what it was before, where my default file location was Mac > Me > Dropbox > Documents/Desktop/Downloads.

Nancy

Sorry for jumping in, @JoannaM. Can you clarify what you mean when saying this isn’t what you want? Are you seeing your backed up folders now in their default locations perhaps, instead of your local Dropbox folder?

If yes, then this should be expected on the updated Dropbox Backup experience.

JoannaM

Thanks for your reply Nancy, and for the link about the updated Dropbox experience. How can I access my files as I did before (e.g., Mac > Me > Dropbox > Documents/Desktop/Downloads etc.) - I don't want to have to duplicate saving files that are currently saved on my computer on Dropbox, just to be able to access them elsewhere. Is there a workaround? How can I access files from other computers, that currently exist on my computer (and were previously in Dropbox), without going into Browser > Backup?

Megan

Hi @JoannaM, what exactly do you see when checking your Backup page online?

Is your Backup enabled, and if so are you able to locate your content there?

Also, any screenshots that you have from your Backup content locally, it's more than welcome.

sarasheep

Yes! that's what my Mac has gone through, after my Mac is "backed up", all the files are stored locally and is no longer stored "online".

I thought that's the new set up...? (however I prefer the old way)

JoannaM

Hi Megan - yes, the files exist in backup. But I don't want them to only be backed up, I want them to sync between devices, without going through the web browser backup options. This is literally how it was until I updated yesterday. If i can't do that any more, and there are no plans to restore that option, just say so and I'll look for other file sync software.

@sarasheep, sorry for hijacking your post! And thanks for your reply.