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Unlinked Dropbox folder after restoring mac OS from Time Machine.

Hi there

I've been searching for a while, no solution in sight:

After restoring mac from time machine, most things worked as before, dropbox was re-linked (had to remove mac and link again, did not link itself).

Now the mac is linked but not to my dropbox from the restore, it created a new, second folder and tries to sync with data from web dropbox. Now there are 2 dropboxes and none works properly.

Problem is:

The old one has all data but is not linked. It shows up in finder like a volume with dropbox icon as before but it says: "This is an unlinked Dropbox" and shows an option to delete it.

The new one shows all files as zero kb, so it does not download anything, I can't open any file there. It shows up in finder like a regular folder (folder icon).

Going forward I cannot use it anymore as I can't modify or add anything.

I already unlinked and relinked multiple times. Re-installed dropbox. Now I'm stuck.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Martin

Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 09.12.40.jpg

Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 09.26.03.jpg

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Hey @mrmrtno, welcome to our Community!

Let's jump right into this. Would you mind checking into your app's preferences, and specifically under your Account tab to check if your account is linked there?

Provided that's the case, then what do you see when visiting the Sync tab? Where is your Dropbox folder located?

It'd also be most helpful if you could share with me the app's current syncing status too.

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

Thanks a lot Megan

account is linked correctly (at first after restoring though, I accidentally linked with my other, dormant account; then I unlinked and deleted that dropbox folder, then relinked with my main account and as mentioned had to unlink my mac since it did not recognise it after restoring and I am only allowed 3 devices)

SYNC TAB

shows as follows

Screenshot 2024-10-03 at 14.50.19.jpg

and allows me to change location of the folder, currently this:

/Users/M/Dropbox

And that seems to be where the synced, but "hollow" (zero kb) version is.

The real, full, old, but un-synced dropbox seems to be treated like a volume, can't find location in finder, so I can't point dropbox there and I read that I need to (or Dropbox does) create a new sub-folder wherever I point to, so I can't do that because I can't reach the level above the folder…

SYNC STATUS

says files are up to date – this refers to the new, hollow one and even the last file that was officially synced properly is zero kb when I go there (> show in finder). I just discovered though, that opening it seems to download that file and then I can see it (not zero kb anymore).

But I can't do that for all 7000 files, right…

Hope that helps and we're getting closer…

Thanks again

M

Thanks for the info @mrmrtno!

Got it! Initially I thought that the new Dropbox folder was empty. However, it sounds like you can indeed see your content inside your Dropbox folder, but they are zero kb, right? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, based on what you described your content might have synced locally as online-only. If you try to follow these steps, in order to change it to available offline, does that work?

thanks Megan
yes, all there, but zero kb

so what you're suggesting is to try and sync/download all again into the new folder and then eventually deleting the old original (which is somehow "mounted" as a volume or sth..)?

Then I can use the new folder as before, adding/modifying stuff..?

Hey @mrmrtno, I hope it's okay for me to jump in as well.

You're quite right, that's how the process is going to be.

Just to make sure that the new Dropbox folder works correctly, though, do you see all the Dropbox options when you control/right-click on a file?

If so, instead of making all your files available offline one by one, you can also switch the Dropbox folder itself to available offline.

Thanks Hannah

what's confusing me is that the SYNC options are exactly the opposite:

Here "Available offline" is tagged and not "Online-only".

Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 12.56.31.jpg

What about

– toggling that to "Online-only"

(should not change anything because that's how it actually seems to be)

– then toggling back to "Available offline"

shouldn't that make it download all files completely?

Am I missing sth here?

Thanks again

Hi @mrmrtno, this setting is only for new files added to the Dropbox account itself on the site, and not for files that are already there.

If you want to make changes to the Dropbox folder, you'd need to right click the folder itself and choose the appropriate option to mark it as available offline or online-only.

Thanks Jay

the problem is:

When I right-click on any file or the Dropbox folder it does only show the regular macOS options, none of the special Dropbox actions is available.

Does that mean that sth is still wrong with the installation?

Is there another way to make all files offline again?

THanks

M

Would you mind sending over a few screenshots of the options you have when right clicking on a folder/file inside your Dropbox folder @mrmrtno?

Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 15.42.36.jpg

Do you get the same result when clicking the content inside the Dropbox folder too @mrmrtno?

yes

all the same

main folder or single files within

How about your other Dropbox folder and its contents? The one that doesn't have the Dropbox icon on it.

Hi Hannah

the other folder is the same, no special options available.

Hi all

so – with the right-click options not showing up – it means that I'm stuck?

any other ideas maybe?

thanks again

Hey there, @mrmrtno!

We have a couple more things to try in order to remedy this.

The first thing I'd like for you to try is this one. If this doesn't work, then feel free to try out an advanced re-install.

Thanks Megan

the first options with mac pref did not change anything, not even after reboot.

But I discovered this offer

Screenshot 2024-10-07 at 12.57.40.jpg

… would that help?

should I do that (with a free account)?

You can read more about Dropbox on File provider here too @mrmrtno.

I'd suggest that you update the app, if you wish. If things don't change after that, you might still need to perform an advanced re-installation though.

Hi all

unfortuantely I'm still struggeling with this issue and missing the files in my dropbox becomes almost a daily pain.

before going through that advanced re-installation I am still wondering:

what about this complete dropbox in my finder which says:

"THIS IS AN UNLINKED DROPBOX"

Screenshot 2024-10-11 at 10.32.18.jpg

Doesn't that suggest/imply that it would be an expected situation?

…and that there should be a solution to re-link it?

Thanks

If you visit the app's preferences, and check under your Account tab, are you able to see your linked Dropbox account there?

In any case, I'd suggest the advanced re-install, in order to sort things out.

thanks

I'm affraid it's not that simple:

with such a "clean sweep" then I'll still have 2 folders and the thing that I'm worried most about is:

I am using a lot of links (mac alias folders) and that worked fine so far to & from Dropbox.

After re-installing all of it (and still or at least before having 2 locations) I am afraid it may screw up those links… and I'd really like to avoid that and keep them

Currently it seems as if the links from outside towards a dropbox folder are referring to that "unlinked" Dropbox that appears like a Drive/Location in finder.

That BTW keeps me from re-linking via just changing the "folder location":

This "unlinked" Dropbox appears like a Drive/Location in finder, which means I cannot locate where it is stored, so I cannot move one level up, which I would need to because the new Dropbox folder will always be created within the specified location, right?

thanks again

Hi there

isn't there a way to re-link instead of re-installing, so that the linked folders would be working again?

It worked after previous system migrations (restored from time-machine), so why can't it work this time?

BTW

The reason that those linked folders only work on mac, but not in iPhone/iPad is iOS / macOS, so that can never work in DropBox on mobile devices as long as they are running different OSs…?

Thanks again

Martin

I think the best case scenario here in order to avoid confusion, and make sure that the app is syncing properly would be the following:

Make sure all of your content is available when you visit your account online. Then unlink the device using these steps

-Right-click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar, by the clock.

-Click on your profile picture or initials to the right of the search bar and select 'Preferences' > 'Account.'

-Click the 'Unlink' button, then select 'OK' on Windows or 'Unlink anyway' on Mac.

-Afterwards, Dropbox will prompt you to re-register. Quit!

After this, delete all the existing Dropbox folders, and allow for the files to sync anew. If you have any questions, I'm here!

Hi Megan

I'm sorry but I tried to follow these steps and again ran into some issues, like this

Screenshot 2024-10-16 at 22.45.14.jpg

But more importantly problems with deleting my old, fully offline, but unlinked folder/location – which led me to do more research and I also vaguely remembered that at some point (last year?) there was a change in the dropbox system, no?

The location apparently was a change to ~/library/CloudStorage and that's why it shows up as a "location" in finder and it behaves weirdly. It is not a regular folder, it is some kind of "Cloud Storage", apparently a category of its own, which means I can't copy it and I can't move it to the bin.

I could delete it, but that seems worth a serious warning that I can't undo this and I should copy things I'd like to keep – which I can't unfortunately.

Screenshot 2024-10-16 at 22.16.08.jpg

So I'm feeling kind of stuck again.

For a moment I almost thought there might be a way:

– Unlinking/Signing-out as you suggested

– deleting the new "hollow" folder

– re-starting & signing in again

THEN:

– pointing the app in preferences towards that "location" in Cloud Storage, where the old, unlinked, fully offline dropbox is

That seemed to be too good, too easy – and it wasn't. Dropbox said it can't create a new Dropbox folder there, probably because my old one is still there and it can't recognise & relink to that it seems.

BTW

Strangely the right-click-options suddenly came back meanwhile – for the old, unlinked Cloud Storage Dropbox. But none of them worked, all lead to error messages (as it is unlinked it seems).

Screenshot 2024-10-16 at 22.21.46.jpg

So I'm still running around in circles and the problem is still not solved I'm afraid.

Next week I'll be travelling for business at a fair which is one of the main uses of my Dropbox to have content avialable on my mobile devices. I would love to have this solved ASAP to prepare for that with my Dropbox up & running again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

M

Most likely, the best option would be to unlink the Dropbox desktop application from your Dropbox account by signing out of your account in the desktop app. This would prevent any changes on the machine from affecting your files online.

Afterwards, you can delete any Dropbox folder on your machine that you have mentioned, to avoid any confusion in the app or permission issues.

Finally you can follow the steps in the advanced reinstallation page to reinstall the Dropbox desktop application fully. Depending on if you're in the new File Provider setting or not, your new Dropbox folder could be located in your Users folder, or the CloudStorage folder.

Hi Jay

thanks.

The reinstallation seems to have worked now (even non-advanced), at least in the sense that the new Dropbox folder (conventional folder in classic user folder location) now syncs properly, all files are fully downloaded. That is one step closer to what I had and need, BUT:

Now there are two full Dropboxes (claiming twice the harddrive space) and apparently the old unlinked one (the weird Cloud Storage thing) is the one that all my linked folders point to and it is strangely the one that offers the DB-finder-options when right-clicking – which are useless of course, because it can't connect:

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 09.55.27.jpg

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 09.31.36.jpg

The new one, which is syncing with online DB does not have any DB-options:

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 09.53.22.jpg

So it still seems like there is sth not really working properly, no?

I'm still reluctant to deleting that unlinked CloudStorage DB, because there are tons of links that would become dead-ends and have to be recreated to the new DB.

Isn't there a way to relink to this (bloody) CloudStorage DB?

Thanks again

Hey @mrmrtno - it seems that the desktop app is still linked to the wrong Dropbox folder somehow.

Could you try the advanced reinstall as Jay suggested and let us know how it goes?

If you end up with two folders again, send us a screenshot of both of them so that we can check the syncing icons in their contents.

Thanks Walter

the advanced reinstall wouldn't include deleting the old unlinked Cloud Storage folder?

This "File Provider" option does not have to do with anything?

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 14.29.45.jpg

That wouldn't change the DB-location to ~/library/CloudStorage (where that unlinked DB apparently was located before all that annoying screwed up system restore) …?

If you update to File Provider, this will use the CloudStorage location on your machine, as that's the only place it can be stored for Mac devices.

Since you don't want to lose links already linked to that location, this would be the best option to have the Dropbox folder back there.

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