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Mac OS Sequoia is arriving. Is DropBox ready?

Hi everyone, who remembers the chaos that happened last year with the Mac OS Sonoma update and all the issues we had with DropBox? There was a particular version that caused syncing to go haywire. I remember it all too well, as it took us almost a month to figure out how to fix the problem.

What will happen with Mac OS Sequoia? I admit, I'm quite anxious and would appreciate some reassurance from the DropBox team.

Thanks.

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marty39

There is an update, see https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes.

If you still have trouble, disable the firewall. https://9to5mac.com/2024/09/19/security-bite-macos-sequoias-filewall-is-disrupting-security-tools-and-more/ says most users should not enable the firewall:

"Details are sparse at the moment, but a possible source of the issues is Sequoia’s current firewall. This is useful for managing connections on untrusted networks. If you’re an everyday user and not a security nut or part of an enterprise team, your firewall is likely already off. This is the default on Mac, as most users are on trusted networks anyway (Apple’s way of balancing usability and security)."

All comments

DBX_Pedro

Hi @marty39 ,

Thanks for reaching out on this.

Let's get into it straight away, a possible resolution you can follow in the Mac is :

Look for search bar
Then type terminal
When the terminal windows opens:
Type the following command

sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --add /Applications/Dropbox.app

It will ask you for the password of the Mac next after this is introduced can you please see if the issue persists in the dropbox app ?

This was suggested previously by @Surething and has helped a couple of people already.

Can you please test this and get back to us?

arnabghosh

Hi,

I am able to access Dropbox after disabling firewall, not with firewall enabled.

marty39

DBX_Pedro: That command worked for me. It changed Dropbox from block to allow in Firewall.

I tried other options to that command, and --remove doesn't seem to work. But --add did work.

eaceti

This command line fixed the problem. Thank you!

The issue came from the firewall, even after uninstall/reinstall and reboots, Dropbox app was always blocked in the osx firewall options. After the command it's now Enabled.

DBX_Pedro

Hi everyone,

We've notified our Engineering team that Dropbox is not starting on Sequoia for some users, and we are currently investigating. We may need to reach out to affected users. We'll provide an update here when we have more to share.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and patience over this period.

xvzCtBgL

My firewall is turned off. Dropbox would not start after upgrading to Sequoia. Reinstalling the app fixed the problem. Dropbox started and it is now syncing files.

mspink

I have a company-issued Macbook and am unable to make changes to our Firewall settings. Surely this isn't the only fix 😤

DBX_Pedro

Hi @mspink ,

Thanks for reaching out. Keep in mind that company issued Laptops in general might be limited to the restrictions set by them.

Can you please try instead the following steps:

Go to the top left corner of the screen
click on the apple
System Settings
Network
Firewall
Options from the Firewall
Untick block all incoming connections
Then allow incoming connections from Dropbox

Can you please test and get back to us?

mspink

Hi, the settings on the laptop won't allow me to make changes to the firewall.

Joelo

Hi, I have a similar issue. I have two company Macs and both are not able to sync files. They both can start the desktop application (even though it takes longer than it usually did), but files don't sync. The interface appears to be syncing (i.e. "syncing 12 files"), but nothing really happens. Surprisingly, the firewall (which I cannot change) has Dropbox with "Allow incoming connection". Somehow, the connection is still blocked.

I've tried re-installing a couple of times but this didn't solve the problem.

cloudres

@DBX_PedroI see you’re helping everyone, except for me, who started this thread. You replied days ago saying you would ask the engineers if Dropbox is compatible with Sequoia. I’m still waiting for a response!

I want to provide an update, but I can’t do it without confirmation.

Thank you!

DBX_Pedro

Hi @cloudres ,

Thank you for contacting us today.

In this case we are still waiting on the internal feedback.

We will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

marty39

@Joelo: Just a thought: this doesn't look like one of the issues that other users have encountered and resolved. Could your company have installed some kind of "protection" that's interfering with Dropbox? If so, you might raise the issue with company tech support.

DBX_Pedro

Hi @Joelo ,

Thanks for reaching out to us regarding this important issue.

In order to circumvent the firewall blocking the app we can do the following:

Look for search bar
Then type terminal
When the terminal windows opens:
Type the following command

sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --add /Applications/Dropbox.app

It will ask you for the password of the Mac next

After this is done the firewall issue should be resolved.

Are you able to perform this operation ?

Joelo

@DBX_Pedro as I stated before, I'm not able to perform this operation because this is computer is managed by my IT department (who also tried to go around the firewall using thee command and failed, got the same result). It is obvious the issue is with Sequoia and v208.4.5824 not being compatible in some way. I hope an update is released soon.

DBX_Pedro

Hi @Joelo ,

Thanks for getting back to us.

There is another option for you to ask the IT , these are the steps :

Go to the top left corner

press the Apple Logo

System Settings

Network

Firewall

Options from the Firewall

Untick block all incoming connections

Then allow incoming connections from Dropbox

Can you please ask them to try the above?

SS41

Running on apple silicon (sequoia). Having a ton of issues with recently - not sure if it coincided with the last dropbox software update (saw last stable release was ~one week ago, which is when dropbox.com said it last received any activity from my computer).

The app initially said no internet connection - which didn't make sense. After restarting the computer it was stuck on "Starting..." but never started. So downloaded the latest beta and it connected and logged in and seemed like it was syncing. But then the syncing seemed to halt.

And a restart later we're back to hanging on starting. Not sure what the issue is. I'll uninstall and reinstall the beta again.

Mark

Hi @SS41

Do you have the Apple firewall enabled? I've seen a post or two saying that its blocking Dropbox. Can you try disabling that for a few mins and see if it works?

SS41

Thanks @Mark . I actually tried that when the issue first arose and it didn't seem to make a difference. Post restart it was stuck on "starting." The issue seems to have resolved after I installed the latest beta - it now starts and syncs automatically on restart. I also removed some large parallels disk files from the drive so not sure if that was causing issues too.

Thanks!

minkemintje

This is what I received and to tell you the truth, I do not dare to use the terminal.

But yes, there are big problems because the icons of sync are missing. After half a day trying and error and support to try the Mac completely dropbox-free it is not working. I am connected and it is synchroizing in the right way but I have no any sign whats only online and what's on my Mac.

So here you are, if you can use it.

Quit the Dropbox desktop app:
- Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
- Click your avatar (profile picture or initials).
- Click Quit.
Uninstall Dropbox:
- Open your Finder.
- Click Applications.
- Locate the Dropbox app and drag and drop it to the Trash. Or, right-click the Dropbox app icon and select Move to Trash.
When the uninstall finishes, restart your computer.
Delete the remaining Dropbox system folders.
- Open your Finder.
- Click Applications.
- Open your Terminal application.
  - The Terminal pathway on updated macOS computers is /Applications/Terminal.app
  - Note: If you can’t find the Terminal app, check the Utilities folder.

Copy and paste the following lines below one at a time into the Terminal. Press Enter on your keyboard after each one:

sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"

sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox

sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox

sudo mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old

sudo chmod -N ~

sudo mv /Library/DropboxHelperTools ~/DropboxHelperTools.old

Note: Don't type commands by hand.
When prompted, enter your computer admin password (not your Dropbox password), and press Enter on your keyboard.
The password field in Terminal remains blank as you type your password. After you type it, press Enter on your keyboard.
You'll know that these instructions complete normally once the initial line of text (called prompt) appears.

5. Get the latest version of the Dropbox desktop app.
6. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the installation file and double-click it.
7. Apply any you had before the reinstall.
8. Select the Dropbox folder location, if not in the default location.

Important: This process removes the previous Dropbox preferences and configuration. If you wish to avoid re-syncing your Dropbox content, you'll need to choose the location for Dropbox to sync to manually. If you don't, you'll create a new Dropbox folder and start to sync your content again.

To select your established Dropbox folder on your drive, click Advanced Settings after choosing which folders to sync.
Choose the parent folder of your already established Dropbox folder. For example, if you have your Dropbox folder in the path “/Volumes/DifferentPlace/Dropbox”, then select the folder “/Volumes/DifferentPlace”.

I will be looking forward to your reply to inform me of the results.

Regards,
Mason

PS: Check out our library of quick videos that’ll teach you how to get the most out of your

cloudres

It's been two weeks, and still no news. What a way to treat customers, honestly. I understand a misjudgment can happen once, but twice? It can only mean that Apple users are not a priority for Dropbox.

marty39

@cloudres: I have some knowledge of system debugging. It's not a simple problem. There seem to be at least two issues here, as some people here can get Dropbox to work by reinstalling, while others have to disable the Firewall, and a few seem to have tried both without success. Don't expect a quick fix.

acbc

I find deeply unfair that this 'figuring out' is crowdfunded through our time. It is a system update, not the Doomsday - I fear that letting consumers fend for themselves is a choice, and cheaping out on due diligence is the beginning of the end for DB.

marty39

@acbc You seem to think that all you need to fix a bug is to roll out an update. The update has to have bug fixes, and bug fixes depend on figuring out what's causing the bugs.

Yes, letting customers fend for themselves is a choice. The alternative is to pay for more programmers, which would really be the beginning of the end for DropBox.

The choice depends on how many users are actually unable to use Dropbox because of these bugs. If it's only a few, the bugs have low priority. If it's a big share of their customer base, you can be sure they will be working hard to find fixes for the problems.

Joelo

Seems I'm out of luck on two fronts. My IT department wasn't able to make changes in Terminal (which is a separate issue they're working on). But I also just upgraded to v209.4.3661 and it still doesn't work. The app still stays in syncing limbo (says it's syncing but no downloading is actually happening).

imyles

Well not but 2 hours after upgrading to Sequoia, now everytime I try to save a word document, rather than save to dropbox it appears to make a new folder called NSIRD_Word_SXJuly and saves the file with a weird name like .~WRD2965.

Google drive works so I'm hoping Dropbox can get this fixed soon?

imyles

after upgrading to Sequoia, now everytime I try to save a word document, rather than save to dropbox it appears to make a new folder called NSIRD_Word_SXJuly and saves the file with a weird name like .~WRD2965.

Google drive works so I'm hoping Dropbox can get this fixed soon?

HAK3

I was able to fix finder Dropbox sync status icons under Sequoia without reinstalling by doing the following. I don't know which were necessary, I think #4 might be enough.

Settings->Login Items & Extensions->Actions, turn off everything
Settings->Login Items & Extensions->Endpoint Security Extensions->Turn off NordVPN
Settings->Login Items & Extensions->Quicklook, turn off everything
Settings->Login Items & Extensions->Finder, turn off everything (assuming Dropbox does not appear there)
Settings->Privacy & Security->Full Disk Access->Turn on Dropbox
Reboot

cloudres

@DBX_Pedrois there any news? I think it's been a month since I created this thread, and I still haven't understood what’s going on.

All I know is that, out of everyone I know, I’m the only one who still hasn’t upgraded to Sequoia because of my Dropbox subscription.

iancackett

I am also watching this thread before upgrading my 2 Macs. Lots of folks had their Sequoia issues resolved, but I’m unsure from such a long thread whether anyone is still stuck and whether Dropbox are still investigating anything for those folks. If I upgrade and get stuck, with none of the posted answers helping, I think that would see me move to another cloud storage provider at this point. So I’d like to avoid that.