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Files with the blue cloud icon aren't accessible on Windows

I work in a team of 4 people and everything went well for years with dropbox and my team members. Then I installed a windows update (from W11-22H to W11-24H). After that update my problems begon.

Not all the files are accessible anymore for my pc, For the other team members and on my smartphone everything remains ok, but not on my own pc where the dropbox app is installed. With the windows file viewer I get the icons 'blue cloud' and a 'green V'. The files with the cloud icon are not accessible. New added files are also not visible on my pc.

With the dropbox app i can do an see everything with all the files but with the file viewer I have those problems. I have the feeling that the synchronisation between dropbox cloud and my pc is gone/broken/interrupted

How can I solve this problem ?

Thank you for your answers/solution.

Grtz, Michel J.

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Michel J

Hi Jay and Hannah,

The problem was in the windows startup !! Not dropbox or antivirus.

the start for dropbox was enabled in de apps startup. I set this enable and everything is ok. Also after the pc startup everything works.

Thank you for helping me !!

grtz

All comments

Jay

Hi @Michel J, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could you try marking the files as available offline to see if they can be accessed from your machine?

Keep me updated with any progress!

Michel J

Thanks Jay, for your reply. But, how can I make the files on-line or off-line ? The help info, how to do this, are not corresponding to what I see on the screen !?!

Nancy

Hey Michel, hope it’s OK for me to jump in.

If you right-click on your files in your File Explorer > Dropbox folder, do you see the option to make them available offline? You can also check out this Help Center article for more details.

If you don't see this option, please send me a screenshot of what shows on your end instead, and I'll have a look for you.

Michel J

Hi Nancy,

I had to take a picture of the screen because the pop-up of the options is not on the screen shot. Hopefully the text is readable

And this is the screenshot of the file viewer :

Thanks for your help

Grtz

Jay

Are you certain that the Dropbox desktop application is currently running in the system tray near the clock?

Could you try reinstalling the Dropbox desktop application, without uninstalling it first, by using this link?

Michel J

Sorry Nancy, I sent you de windows file viewer, not the dropbox file viewer. This is it :

Michel J

Hi Jay,

I did this re-installation in the past. Everything was ok after that but, after a reboot of the pc, everything was wrong again (cloud icons and not accessable).

I used your link now to re-install and eveything ok (cloud icon but accessable).

btw, I didn't understand what you mean by "running in the system tray near the clock" ?

I will now reboot my pc and see of everything stays ok.

Hannah

Hey @Michel J, thanks for the update here.

Jay meant that if the Dropbox application works correctly on your computer, you should have a small Dropbox icon in your system tray at the bottom right corner of your screen.

I'm glad to see that everything works now, but if the issue returns, please let us know.

Michel J

Thank you Hannah.

Now, I've rebooted my pc and the problem is there again. And no, there is no dropbox icon in the system tray now after the restart. There must be a running problem or ...?

What can I do to solve this ?

Hannah

Thanks for the update, Michel.

Can you please confirm that you don't have any 3rd party apps that might be interfering with the Dropbox app?

For example, some kind of security program, like a firewall, antivirus, VPN, etc.?

Michel J

Hi Hanna,

I do have an antivirus, Norton 360 for gamers. But I have that sw before the windows11 update and without any problems with dropbox.

So, is that the problem and must I look in that anti-virus ? Look for what ?

Jay

It's possible that your security software is preventing the Dropbox desktop application from appearing in the system tray near the clock, which allows files to sync and to show the sync icons in Explorer.

Is this a personal machine, or a company-managed device? Did you originally install the Dropbox desktop application using admin privileges?

If you access the Preferences in the desktop app, have you enabled the 'Start Dropbox on system startup' option?

Michel J

Hi Jay,

I have a personal license (for 3 devices) and I installed dropbox originaly without having the choice to choose for privileges... I see that the preference 'start dropbox on system startup' stays ON and I set the standard synchronisation for new files on OFFLINE (it stood "only online"). Now everything seems to work because I re-installed dropbox (dropbox icon in the system tray) but, when I reboot the pc, dropbox doesn't work anymore (no dropbox icon in system tray)

Must I also change some (?) parameters in my antivirus (Norton 360 for gamers) too ?

Jay

Yes, it's possible that the antivirus could be affecting the Dropbox desktop application, so you might need to look up their settings to see what could be preventing it from loading on your machine.

It could also be disabled in the startup settings in your Windows installation.

Michel J

Hi Jay and Hannah,

The problem was in the windows startup !! Not dropbox or antivirus.

the start for dropbox was enabled in de apps startup. I set this enable and everything is ok. Also after the pc startup everything works.

Thank you for helping me !!

grtz

Megan

Hey @Michel J, awesome news!

That's what we like to hear (or read in our case) 😇

If you need anything else, we'll be one post away. Have a wonderful week ahead, thanks!