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Will my files get deleted from my Mac if I remove them from my Dropbox folder?

Here's my situation. I have a MacBook Pro 16 that I'm giving to my son. I'm not going to erase the computer, just get my files off of it. When it comes to dropbox, if I delete this folder, if any files were to be deleted off the dropbox cloud, would they go to the extended version area for me to see and reinstate onto the dropbox cloud? I'm asking this bc in the dropbox folder on my mac, I made all the folders and files "online only" but when I open some of the folders, I see some of the files still have the green check mark with circle which tells me they would be deleted off Dropbox cloud if I deleted the folder off my mac?

Any help would be appreciated. THANKS!

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Megan

Hey @highpoint7!

Both your online-only and available offline files should be deleted from your account online if you try to remove them from your local Dropbox folder. That happens because any changes you make locally should be synced online, and vice versa.

So, if you remove an online-only file from within your Dropbox folder, the changes will sync to your account online, and the same thing will happen with an available offline file.

That means that when you unlink, then uninstall the app, and then delete your Dropbox folder both the online-only and available offline should be removed from the device. That happens without affecting your content online, since the app won't be syncing anymore.

I hope this clarifies!

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Rich

highpoint7 wrote:
I'm not going to erase the computer, just get my files off of it.

If your intent is to remove all Dropbox files from the computer before giving it to your son, then you'll want to first uninstall the Dropbox application, or unlink the device from your account, then you can safely remove the local Dropbox folder. All files in your account will remain there without having to be recovered.

Megan

Hey there, @highpoint7, thanks for posting here!

I'd suggest what @Rich already mentioned. If you have further questions you need help with, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks a bunch!

highpoint7

Thanks for that. I actually understand what you said. Just random web searches on this yielded the same info but not as clear. One last thing: in doing what you said, I'm assuming that when I uninstall dropbox, and unlink the device, it'll automatically know which files are on both "online and offline" (the files that have the circled green checkmark) and will make sure they don't get lost in the shuffle so to speak and I won't lose them.

highpoint7

check my response to @ Rich. Thanks

Megan

Hey @highpoint7!

So, if you remove an online-only file from within your Dropbox folder, the changes will sync to your account online, and the same thing will happen with an available offline file.

I hope this clarifies!