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What is the best way to upgrade to Mac Sonoma and Dropbox File Provider?

So been avoiding making any changes for over a year now since things have been working relatively well with the Old Dropbox on two Macs running OS Ventura 13.5, even with the issues around online-only files.

But really want to get my Macs on the current version (Sonoma 14.5), which I think means I have to upgrade to Dropbox File Provider.

Having read lots of horror stories, wondering is there's a simple tutorial for doing this with the least amount of headaches. Or any tips anyone who has done it can offer. Like should I upgrade the OS first, or upgrade to FP on the current OS first?

I am on a Dropbox Plus plan if that matters.

Thanks.

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Jay

Hi @johnhalldesign, thanks for messaging the Community!

Just for clarification, are you getting the option to upgrade to File Provider on the current OS via the Dropbox desktop application?

This will help me to assist further!

johnhalldesign

@Jay wrote:
Hi @johnhalldesign, thanks for messaging the Community!

Just for clarification, are you getting the option to upgrade to File Provider on the current OS via the Dropbox desktop application?

This will help me to assist further!

Yes, I have the note that says "Dropbox for macOS on File Provider is Now Ready"

Jay

The best option then would be to first set up File Provider on your current OS, and then upgrade your OS, that way the changes aren't going to happen at the same time. after the upgrade

johnhalldesign

@Jay wrote:
The best option then would be to first set up File Provider on your current OS, and then upgrade your OS, that way the changes aren't going to happen at the same time. after the upgrade

Thanks, so if I just click "get started" under that notice will it walk me through it automatically? Any specific issues I should watch out for, and will it need to resync my entire Dropbox on both computers? I try to keep the majority of files live on both computers rather than "online only", cause I'm kind of old school, and I have enough disk space.

Jay

That's correct, clicking that option will begin the migration. When switching to File Provider, make sure to mark the entire Dropbox folder as available offline, since files will return to being online-only if your Mac runs out of space.

A resyncing of files, or at least re-indexing, is expected, but shouldn't take too long.

johnhalldesign

When switching to File Provider, make sure to mark the entire Dropbox folder as available offline, since files will return to being online-only if your Mac runs out of space.

Thanks, one clarification on the above. Not sure I want to force EVERYTHING to be available offline, cause i may not have enough space for that. But I'd like things to stay as they are, so if they are local now, I'd like them to stay that way, but of they are currently online-only they can stay that way. Will that happen if I don't select the option to make the whole Dropbox available offline?

Jay

As it is, nothing will change on your machine. I just want to point out a change to the syncing on File Provider, as there are three statuses (aside from syncing etc). There is available offline, and online-only, which work like you have now.

Then there is 'Available', and that has no sync icon at all. Files that are available can be opened and downloaded, but if the Mac is running out of space, those are the files that would be made online-only. You can read up more about it here.

johnhalldesign

So I did the first step of this—updating to File Provider—on one of my computers yesterday, and for the most part seemed to work, but I am encountering a few issues.

It went through the indexing stage, and then a sync stage, but then the top Dropbox icon got stuck on "syncing" although it was not showing any number of files or what was syncing. I left it overnight, but this morning it was still stuck on syncing. I finally restarted the computer, and it synced a few more files, and then finally the sync icon and message went away.

Did some testing of files on both Macs, and if I worked on a file on either, it seemed to sync to the other correctly, and all my files seem to all be there. But if I work on a file on my other Mac, while it does sync to Dropbox, and the updated Mac correctly, the sync icon again gets stuck again on the updated computer.

The other issue is I no longer see the Dropbox icon at the top of a finder window. I used this regularly, if I wanted to get to version history of a file, or if I wanted to make an entire folder local or online only. Not sure how I'm going to do those things that are a key part of my workflow. Is that supposed to know longer be there with the update, and where am I supposed to access the items I would have accessed there?

Thanks for any additional guidance.

Hannah

Hey @johnhalldesign, jumping in here as well, I hope that's alright.

Just wanted some clarification on something.

You mentioned that on the updated computer, the syncing icon gets stuck on "Syncing..", but then you also mentioned that the Dropbox icon is missing.

Are you referring to the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

Would you mind sending some screenshots so we can have a visual of the issue?

johnhalldesign

The Dropbox icon in the top menu bar is there. But previously when I opened a finder window for a folder there was a Dropbox icon at the top of that window where I accessed version history, and made folders online-only. I have since found I can access those choices by option-clicking on a folder, and I've tried to use the "make online-only" there but that is totally freezing up syncing too. So my disk is now so full I can't do anything, and its not letting me make anything online-only cause it freezes syncing. Totally has made a mess of my whole system, which is why I have avoided doing this for so long.

johnhalldesign

Further followup. Syncing started to move a little bit in terms of making files online-only. Freed up a slight amount of space, so at least I can function, but is still very slow and halting. Anyway, here is a screengrab of the finder window I'm talking about and where there used to be a Dropbox icon (circled in red) where I accessed many of the features. Much clunkier to have to option-click on a folder. Screenshot 2024-06-07 at 10.57.17 AM.png

johnhalldesign

So I think I have sorted out most of the issues above, and things seem to be working OK. Was just very slow to update and finish syncing when I made individual folders online-only, but seems it finally finished.

Now a new serious issue I have just realized, though. I am very data paranoid, and in addition to Dropbox, I have always backed up my machines both locally with Time Machine onto a physical hard drive, and as an additional layer of safety to Backblaze. I just realized that I don't think Backblaze can see the Dropbox folder in the new location, which is super worrysome. And haven't tried yet, but am even more worried that Time Machine won't be able to see it either. Is that the case, and is there any way around that?

I realize that online-only files were never backed up, but generally the files are live on one of my machines so were being backed up elsewhere somehow. But if they can't be backed up by any other method now, and I'm completely at the mercy of Dropbox, that may really be a deal breaker.

johnhalldesign

So finally took the plunge and upgraded one of my two Mac's (currently running Ventura 13.5) to Dropbox File Provider.

Had a few bugs with syncing, but for the most part seems to be working.

But now I'm worried that my other backup systems are not going to work with the new location of the Dropbox folder.

I am old school and paranoid about losing important files, and never fully trust Dropbox. So I usually try to keep the majority of my files live on the Mac, and back up to a physical hard drive using Time Machine, as well as keeping a Backblaze cloud backup.

After the upgrade, it appears the Backblaze does not see the new Dropbox folder location, and I'm worried that Time Machine won't either.

Have seen some threads regarding this here and there, but still not clear on if and how I can back up my files that are in the new Dropbox folder, apart from the Dropbox.

Walter

Hi @johnhalldesign - thanks for the updates!

I just wanted to mention that your Dropbox folder is inside the Library folder when using the Dropbox for MacOS on File Provider which is typically hidden by default.

Could you try these steps and let us know if they help?

1. Check to make sure their Library folder is visible. You can do this by going to Finder > Go (on the menu bar) > Go Home.

2. When that opens, click View (on the menu bar) > Show View Options > Check "Show Library Folder"

3.. Restart Backblaze and see if it can see the ~/Library folder at which point backup should be possible. This should also work with Time Machine now that the folder is un-hidden.

johnhalldesign

Thanks, I figured out I was looking in the wrong place in my Backblaze backups. Seems OK now.

Walter

Glad to hear you're back up and running, John.

Let us know if anything else comes up!

johnhalldesign

So first computer (a Macbook) seems to be working correctly, and I have upgraded both Dropbox and the OS to the current version.

Attempting the second computer now (an M1 iMac), and running into some similar and different issues as I did on the first.

Upgraded to File Provider yesterday, and it went through the indexing and sync stage, and just like the MacBook, it gets stuck on Syncing, but shows no files left to sync. Have restarted a couple times, but can't get that to go away like it finally did on the MacBook. See attached.

In addition, some files (not all and not all the time) that I update on the MacBook don't update on the iMac. The file shows the clock icon, but won't update.

Any suggestions?

Screenshot 2024-06-13 at 10.08.47.png

Megan

Hey @johnhalldesign, the first thing that'd help me get an idea of what is happening syncing-wise is the app's version, and syncing status.

You should be able to locate them by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi on your menu bar. Does that give you any idea of what might be happening?

Keep in mind that after the migration to the new Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, your files need to be re-synced. Depending on the amount of files you have in your Dropbox, this may take some time to complete.

When did you make the update on your end?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

johnhalldesign

That screengrab shows what the status is. If I just hover over the icon, it says the same thing. Just "syncing" but with no other details or number of files.

I did the update about 24 hours ago, and it went through the countdown of indexing on syncing, but then when it got to 0 files, it just stayed on syncing, but with no further details.

Like I said, this happened similarly on the other computer I updated, it did the same thing, but eventually that notice went away.

I think on that one I figured that it might be resyncing the online status of files. But its very vague about what its doing, and very slow.

Except for those couple instances I mentioned about specific files not updating, it seems that everything is there, and in most cases updating correctly and reasonable fast. And those two have since updated on both machines.

Just still have that syncing status.

I guess maybe if I wait another day, hopefully it will finish, like the other one did?

Megan

Hey @johnhalldesign, yeah if you could give it some time, that'd be great.

If you notice the same thing tomorrow, give me a shout and we'll check what might be causing this.

Keep in mind that if you have many files inside your local Dropbox folder, that could be the culprit. How many do you have at the moment?