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Desktop folders are unavailable and switched to aliases after deleting the Dropbox app on Mac

I had deleted dropbox off of my MacBook because I was having some glitches with my files and wanted to redownload it. I had continued to save files in my folders saved on my computer that had previously been backed up by dropbox. However, today, I found that my Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folder are all locked and are "alias folders". When I click "get info" there is no information on sharing/permissions, and it says that it can't locate the original folder.

I can't save anything on my desktop or download the dropbox app either. Please help me recover these folders!

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Mark

moots wrote:
Please help me recover these folders!

They will be inside of the \Dropbox folder on your machine - so as long as you didnt delete the Dropbox directory and just the app they are there.

Try running a search on your hard drive for it under Finder

Hannah

Hi there, @moots, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community.

Did you have the time to check what Mark suggested?

You also mentioned the following:

I can't save anything on my desktop or download the dropbox app either

Can you let me know why that is? Are you getting some kind of error message? If so, please send a screenshot, so we can take a look.

Thanks!

moots

Thank you so much Mark for your response! Unfortunately, it looks like I may have accidentally deleted that too as I can't find the dropbox folder under finder...

moots

Hi Hannah,

I just responded to Mark's message - unfortunately I can't find the dropbox folder, it isn't coming up on my search... It isn't letting me save anything on my desktop/downloads because the folders are "locked" and are alias folders. It says that it can't find the original folder. Screenshot attached.

Any ideas would be so so appreciated!

Nancy

Hey @moots, let me jump in here, too.

Can you also visit your Dropbox Backups page online, and send me a full screenshot of what you see there?

If you open the Trash folder on your local device, can you see your deleted Dropbox folder, along with your missing computer folders?

Nancy

Hey @moots, sorry for the nudge. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss my previous post.

Let me know, if you need more help.