How can I choose my old Dropbox folder, when installing the desktop app on a new laptop?

Question

My DropBox folder has been on an external drive (old HP laptop didn't have room on C:\).  I now have a new laptop and want to use that external drive since I have about 3tb of files on it.  How do I set up my new laptop to see that drive as E:\Dropbox, and have the desktop app use E: as the default Dropbox location?

Nancy · Answer

Welcome to our forum, @thecardguy!

While signing in to your desktop app, and before you create a new Dropbox folder on your device, there should be an “Advanced settings” link.

If you click on that link, there should be an option allowing you to choose your existing Dropbox folder, instead of creating a new one and re-syncing everything from the start. The only thing to remember is to choose the parent folder of the already established Dropbox folder (since you had your Dropbox folder in the path "E:\Dropbox", you'll want to select "E:\").

Once you’re done and you’ve logged in, the Dropbox app will take a bit to re-index your files and sync any pending changes.

Hope this helps! I’ll be here, in case you need me again.