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Dropbox folder bounces in the dock on Mac when syncing.

NOTE: a thread already exists for this issue but was closed without a solution. I'm writing this here to reopen it.

The Dropbox folder in my dock (Mac OS Sequoia) bounces every time a file is updated by dropbox Sync. When syncing hundreds of files, it will bounce constantly. When opening a cloud document (online-only document that is opened via the desktop file explorer and temporarily loaded onto the computer), it also bounces. This means that if I even use quick-look to preview a batch of images, my dropbox folder icon will bounce incessantly as it loads higher-resolution preview thumbnails.

People have tried disabling this in terminal and it hasn't worked. I haven't personally tried the terminal method due to these reports, but I would prefer to manage this in the notifications preferences of Dropbox instead. Even with everything turned off on my notification preferences, it still bounces.

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Accepted answers

LynnDbx

We have received confirmation from Apple that this behavior is expected and unfortunately there is no way for Dropbox or the user to disable this behavior. This behavior occurs because the FileProvider API publishes progress updates to Finder to communicate progress in downloading files. The Dock will bounce in response to progress completions (when a file is successfully downloaded).

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Megan

Hey @izaacmp, let's jump right into this!

Was that always the case & behavior when it came to your Dropbox folder, or is this something that started happening recently?

Would you mind clarifying the version of the Dropbox desktop app that you're using on your end too?

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

izaacmp

Thanks Megan for following up 🙂

I only recently re-added the Dropbox folder to my dock about a week ago, and its been occurring the whole time. I believe I also had it in my dock 1 year or so ago without this issue, but I can't be certain.

I'm using v209.4.3661 on macOS 15.0.1 on the Apple Silicon/ARM platform.

Megan

Thanks for the heads up @izaacmp! 😀

I did some digging, and this might be related to your OS, and the settings there rather than Dropbox, but in any case we'll look into it to see what we can find.

Have you tried turning off "animate opening applications" in System Preferences, by any chance?

izaacmp

Thanks for looking into this. I tried your suggestion and I really thought it might work—but it didn't.

However, it did have me thinking a bit more about the interaction between the Dropbox App, the Dock, and the Dropbox Folder. The Downloads folder on the Mac does the same animation anytime something from Safari finishes downloading to the folder. I assume there is a system event that is triggered when the Dropbox App finishes syncing a file. There should be a way for Dropbox to not trigger this animation though. I'm now looking for manual overrides.

DBX_Pedro

Hi @izaacmp,

Thanks for getting in touch.

We've shared this with our team to investigate this issue, and we'll let you know as soon as we have an update.

peterlvilim

Hello!

I'm an engineer at Dropbox. Would you be able to record and share a video of the problem? If there is an action that leads to it happening (eg add content on another computer or on the web so it syncs down onto the machine) that would be helpful to include as well. Thanks!

izaacmp

Hi Peterlvilim,

Thank you for responding.

Whenever a "online-only" file is synced/activated/downloaded on my computer, the DropBox folder icon in my dock will bounce. Sometimes, the folder randomly bounces even when nothing is being synced (according to the status in the Dropbox menu bar applet). For instance, while writing this very paragraph, the icon in my dock representing the Dropbox folder bounced randomly, and the Dropbox client said "everything is up to date" both before and after it bounced.

In video linked here, I have reproduced one condition that always causes the icon to bounce: opening an online-only file (or previewing a file in quick-look). As soon as the data for the file has synced/downloaded, the icon will bounce to presumably indicate the file is ready.

The scenario I recorded, while not desired, isn't quite as frustrating as another scenario I frequently encounter: I will be working on a task such as writing a document when randomly, and without any files being synced, the dropbox folder icon will bounce on my dock interrupting my focus.

Another condition in which it can occur is if Dropbox is syncing files in the background—like when its syncing data that was uploaded from another computer—it may bounce in my dock each time it finishes syncing a file. Multiply this by a hundred files and the icon will bounce 100 times. Unfortunately I wasn't able to replicate this scenario on video either.

I'm using Dropbox Desktop v209.4.3661 on macOS 15.0.1 on the Apple Silicon/ARM platform.

camall3n

This happens to me as well. I see the dock bounce on my Mac every time I modify a file on a different device in an app that uses Dropbox to sync. For example, anytime I edit a note in Notability or add a password to my password manager. I'm running Sonoma 14.4.

I should mention that this includes very minor edits to notes in Notability, or even just opening a note. So it's quite bothersome to see the bounce happen every time. And I can confirm this did NOT use to happen. Certainly didn't happen before the transition a year or two ago to storing cloud files in /Users/[username]/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox.

And disabling the dock bounce entirely is not an acceptable workaround, because I want to see the bounce for other situations (like when a file finishes downloading to ~/Downloads).

DBX_Pedro

Hey @camall3n,

Thank you for reaching out.

We understand how important this is to you, and I wanted to let you know that our team is on it and is reviewing this.

We’ll keep you posted as soon as we have any updates.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

pritcharddesign

I think it must be OS 15 (Sequoia). I recently updated and am having the bouncing dropbox folder issue for the first time.

LynnDbx

camall3n

Thanks for checking. Did you let Apple know that this behavior is obnoxious and extremely distracting? Did they have any recommendations for how to file a complaint with them?

LynnDbx

We did communicate that this was causing user frustration. It looks like this issue has already been surface in Apple Support Community and has not gotten traction yet, unfortunately, which would have been my suggestion for how to file a complaint with them.