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Files on third computer are not syncing with the files on my other two computers

I have a windows and a linux computer that are successfully syncing the files in their dropbox folder to the files I see when I log into dropbox online.

The problem occurred when I created an account (using the same email address) on a third (windows) computer - it does not sync at all. The files when logged in to dropbox online on this computer are the same as the other two, but the files in its dropbox folder are completely different and do not sync.

The weird thing is that the files in this computer's dropbox computer have the little dropbox icons on them (the ones that show whether they are synced, or just in the cloud, and so forth) - it's as if they are syncing to a completely different mystery repository from what I see when logged in online!

I have checked that I do have the desktop dropbox program installed (it's also clearly true, as the little dropbox icons show in the file browser), so this is not the problem.

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Comments

Hannah

Hey @rsh, thanks for reaching out to our Community!

Strange case here, but let's see what we can find.

Can you clarify the following?

I created an account (using the same email address) on a third (windows) computer

Did you actually create a new Dropbox account and sign in to that on the third computer? Or did you just sign in with your existing account credentials?

If, on the third computer, you click on the Dropbox icon, then on your initials/profile pic, then on "preferences" and then go to the "account" tab, are you seeing the same email address as on your other two computers?

Let me know what you find and we'll go from there.

rsh

Thank you very much for that, I learned a lot from your post. However, it is now more interesting than ever. Here's what I have learned:

Whereas I am a very experienced computer user (retired programmer), I know very little about Dropbox, and so have been experimenting with it and with Linux (I want to leave Microsoft entirely and create a comprehensive Linux solution).

For background, you need to know my wife and I have different gmail accounts. I have been using my password manager to log into Dropbox, using my gmail account.

What you sent me allowed me to discover that I had somehow unknowingly gotten logged into the misbehaving computer with my wife's email (even though I selected MY email when prompted by the Dropbox login process - curious.) So I logged out and logged in with my gmail and verified that this was successful.

However, the problem persisted, but with a tiny but very important difference: when viewing the files online, I saw (as before), the correct files (the ones synced on the other two computers), while (as before), in my Dropbox directory, the old incorrect files persisted (presumably having previously been synced with my wife's account). BUT, the telling difference is that the little status icons were no longer displayed on the files, indicating to me that the local desktop process was no longer active and in a syncing mode of action. Since I am unfamiliar with Dropbox, I can't speculate on why this is the case.

rsh

more info. I just noticed that the Dropbox icon is no longer present on the taskbar as it was before I logged out (the little section on the lower right next to the date/time stuff. No doubt the problem - dont, know why - maybe I need to start up some process. If so, this needs to be fixed so its automatic every time I start up. Whatever (I'm guessing here)

Walter

Hey @rsh - thanks for the additional information there.

It sounds like you might have completely closed the Dropbox desktop app on your computer. Can you find the app's icon on your computer to relaunch it?

As for the start-up option, you can find it in the app's preferences.

Let me know what you find and we'll take it from there.

Megan

Hey @rsh!

Hope things are going smoothly! Just wanted to check if you still need a hand. If all's well, feel free to share what did the trick.