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How can I have my Dropbox folder on an external drive with macOS on File Provider?

What is the deal with External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, as described in this article?

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/mac-external-drive-support

I am on the latest macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 and latest Dropbox client v210.4.4854. I have an USB external drive, AFPS-encrypted. After I go through the steps described in the article - Dropbox is no longer in File Provider mode, and it shows as "ineligible" in Preferences.

What I am missing here? The article vaguely mentions this being in "Beta". How do I get this working?

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Hannah

Hey @ctyrider, thanks for joining our Community.

Where is your Dropbox folder currently located?

If it's already (and has always been) on your external drive, you won't be able to update to the File Provider version of Dropbox and subsequently, you won't be able to utilize the File Provider version of the external drive support.

Let me know more about your current setup and we'll go from there.

ctyrider

Hannah,

My Dropbox folder is in its default location on internal drive:

/Users/myusername/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox

I am following the exact steps described in your article to move to External drive:

To move the Dropbox folder:

Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar.

Click your profile picture or initials.

Click Preferences.

Click Account.

Click Sign out.

Click Sign in with Dropbox.

Click Next.

Click Advanced settings when you see, “You're almost finished.”

Under Dropbox folder location, select a folder location.

You can choose to store the Dropbox folder on your external drive from this screen.

Click Done.

Upon completion - the client says I am no longer in "File Provider" mode, and I am ineligible to covert to it. What I am missing?

Megan

Hey @ctyrider, thanks for your patience here!

Would you mind checking how many files you're syncing to your Dropbox folder? You should be able to check that by seeing your folder's properties.

ctyrider

@Megan wrote:
Hey @ctyrider, thanks for your patience here!

Would you mind checking how many files you're syncing to your Dropbox folder? You should be able to check that by seeing your folder's properties.

There is only a handful of folders/files - less than 20. I am using my test Dropbox account to see how migration to external drive would work, before I do anything with my main production account.

It does not work for me, as described in your "External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" article.

Megan

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying @ctyrider!

Can you also check the app's preferences, and send me a screenshot of your Sync tab and the message you see there?

ctyrider

@Megan wrote:
Gotcha, thanks for clarifying @ctyrider!

Can you also check the app's preferences, and send me a screenshot of your Sync tab and the message you see there?

Here's the Sync settings before migrating to external drive:

And here's the same setting after:

Rich

@ctyrider wrote:
I am on the ... latest Dropbox client v210.4.4854. The article vaguely mentions this being in "Beta".

Seeing as this is a Beta feature, I wonder if you need to be running the Beta client. You're running a stable release (middle digit of the version is a 4). Try installing the latest Beta from the Clients Builds section. The middle number in the version should be a 3 for the beta versions.

ctyrider

@Rich wrote:
@ctyrider wrote:
I am on the ... latest Dropbox client v210.4.4854. The article vaguely mentions this being in "Beta".
Seeing as this is a Beta feature, I wonder if you need to be running the Beta client. You're running a stable release (middle digit of the version is a 4). Try installing the latest Beta from the Clients Builds section. The middle number in the version should be a 3 for the beta versions.

I tried it with the latest beta build 211.3.5981 - no change whatsoever. I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.

Does anyone actually have this working as described in the article?

Rich

@ctyrider wrote:
I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.

The article does say "eligible customers."

ctyrider

@Rich wrote:
@ctyrider wrote:
I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.
The article does say "eligible customers."

It does, but right below, under "Eligibility" it says:

In order to be eligible to store the Dropbox folder on an external drive with Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, you must:

Be on macOS 15
Have under 500,000 files in the Dropbox folder on your device

Support is only for external drives that are both:
Formatted as Apple File System (APFS)
Encrypted

My setup is already compliant with all of these.

So @Hannah or @Megan - can Dropbox explain what's really going on with this feature? If it's unsupported - "External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" article should be removed or updated, so customers like myself stop wasting our time.

Walter

Hey @ctyrider - could you try the offline installer of the latest stable version of the app from this page directly and let us know how it goes?

ctyrider

@Walter wrote:
Hey @ctyrider- could you try the offline installer of the latest stable version of the app from this page directly and let us know how it goes?

I am already on the latest stable version, and I've tried the latest Beta build as well, none of this works.

Is there anyone here with some actual knowledge on how this feature is supposed to work, and why it doesn't work?

DBX_Pedro

Hi @ctyrider,

Just checking in to see if everything is up and running on your end.

Can you let us know if you can access it now?

Thanks.

ctyrider

Looks like Dropbox changed some backend setting on my account, where this feature is now working. I can now see external disk showing up in Dropbox Folder Location dropdown, which I never saw earlier:

And I am still in File Provider mode after completing the data move. This works on latest Stable Build 211.4.6008 version:

This definitely appears to be something that Dropbox enables per-account. Out of curiosity, I tried it with a different Dropbox account, and it goes back to the old behavior, where external drive no longer appears in Dropbox Folder Location dropdown.

Hannah

Thanks for the update here, @ctyrider!

I'm glad to see that the feature now works.

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to let us know. 🙂

cprice100

Did this get resolved - I have exactly the same problem?

corbeyluv

@Hannah - I've just gone through similar steps as above and there is no external option any longer. I've purchased an external 4TB Hub precisely, and only for this purpose, so I can have all files on external drive.

Setup:
Mac Mini M4
Sequoia 15.6

Dropbox: 230.4.8797

I've completed transition to File Server over the past few days and the external drive is formatted per Dropbox support instructions.

Please respond as this has been a long process, I've followed all the guidance and need this work so I can then also roll out to workstation.

Jay

Hi @corbeyluv, thanks for the details. In order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.