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The Dropbox icon is gray in my menu bar and the desktop app won't start.

Dropbox for mac: menu bar icon is gray and when I click it the animation starts but my desktop app never starts or connects. This has now happened on two macs. I've tried everything. Can still access my dropbox on the web. I want to upgrade but not when this is happening.

Help!

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Nancy

Thanks for the extra info, @stuartstuart! Appreciate all the details you’ve shared.

Have you followed the steps provided here to perform an advanced reinstall?

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Nancy

Thanks for letting us know about this here, @stuartstuart.

Can you clarify what you mean when saying the animation starts, but not your desktop app? Can you send me a screenshot of what you see to make sure I didn’t misunderstand anything?

I’d also like to know what steps you’ve tried so far, so that we can try something else together.

Keep me in the loop.

stuartstuart

Thanks for the fast reply. And I'll also add that this is the second Mac computer on which this has happened. My assistant, at another location, was having the problem the other day. She would add something to the dropbox in the Finder and it wouldn't update to Dropbox on the web. I tried everything on hers and finally gave up. Now about a week or more later, the same thing happened to me. I tried reinstalling the application (though I don't know that I was able to properly uninstall the application aside from dragging the application to the trash--there are probably other files I don't know about hiding in the system folders?) and I tried give Dropbox permission and access via my system settings, clearing caches, checking the network, there is no firewall. I recently upgraded to the latest Mac operating system. I wasn't kidding about wanting to upgrade, probably after the first of the year, but I'd want things to be working before I do. I hope you can help. I was going to try to figure out how to uninstall properly as my next course of action and then try reinstalling the dropbox application.

The image is a still but that blue diamond is a frozen frame of the animation that just keeps going forever and ever. If I hover over the little gear settings icon, it will say "connecting" but it never seems to connect. I suspect it has to do with the upgrade, though my assistant hasn't done it yet. Could have been the update prior. I may not have noticed that it was happening to me. I rarely use the menu bar icon. Thanks once again.

stuartstuart

Did just reinstall after deleting the Application and the Dropbox folder in Application Support folder, and the Dropbox folder in my Finder did update with something I updated via the web today, but the menu bar icon is still gray and doing the same thing, and adding a new item to the Finder dropbox doesn't sync.

Nancy

Thanks for the extra info, @stuartstuart! Appreciate all the details you’ve shared.

Have you followed the steps provided here to perform an advanced reinstall?

stuartstuart

I will give that a try and report back!

Theresa

Hi @stuartstuart and welcome to the Dropbox Community.

I’m Theresa a Community Manager here at Dropbox HQ 👩‍💻.I am just checking in to see if the advanced reinstall advised by Nancy has resolved your issue. 🙌.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

T 😸 (Dropbox Community Manager)

PS. Just an FYI, we have dedicated spaces here on the Community. Take a peek and see if you’d like to jump into any of them.

stuartstuart

Was just about to leave a message for Nancy to report that yes, the advanced reinstall worked! Nancy is my heroine! Please share my thanks with her. This was great help and I really appreciate it!