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Forum Discussion
Dropbox options missing in right-click menu on Windows
Hi guys,
today, probably after downloading and installing latest stable release a Dropbox, the context menu disappeared from Windows Explorer.
Dropbox version: 183.4.7058
Windows 10 version: 22H2 OS build 19045.3448
Unfortunately I am not sure, what version was installed prior to update.
Any ideas to solve this? Was reading older posts of same issue and not sure how to proceed? Downgrade to older stable and disable updates for a while?
Thanks Petr
Hi all,
Jumping in here, as our team would like to share some insights that may be helpful:
This issue may be related to other applications on your computer that use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of your Operating System.If you are on Windows, please note that Windows has a limit of 15 overlay icons that Windows Explorer can load, and the operating system reserves 4 for its own use.
If there are more than 15, then the Dropbox icons or context menus may not show. To fix this and move the Dropbox sync icons to the first 15 positions:1. Follow the steps in the following article to open your Windows 10 registry editor (applicable to Windows 11 also):
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-open-registry-editor-in-windows-10-deab38e6-91d6-e0aa-4b7c-8878d9e07b11
2. A “Registry Editor” window will open.
3. Navigate through the following folders: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “CurrentVersion” > “Explorer” > “ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers”.
4. Rename (right-click and click Rename) the files, so that the Dropbox files appear in the first 15 files in the list. You can do this by putting spaces in front of those file names, so that they move higher up in the list.
5. Close and restart both of your computer and the Dropbox desktop app.
Thank you,
Sam
You’ve removed this function I use frequently, so now it’s taking 10 times longer to do the same thing. What’s the up side of making your service less useful ?
After few hours of going back and forth uninstalling, clean uninstalling, reinstalling, registry editing, windows updating etc with the help of ChatGPT, ChatGPT gave a suggestion to run the dropbox app in a compatibility mode, which I did, running the app in compatibility mode for either Win7 or Win8, brings the right click context menu back. Ironically, Dropbox announced an ending for Win7 and Win8 support... How come I have the right click context menu while running in Compatibility Mode, but I don't have it while I run it normally
this solution does not works for me. have also uninstalled Onedrive to reduce the amount of options in the right click mention but still nothing.
any other ideas?
- Nancy
Dropbox Staff
Sorry to hear that, @CliffSmiff. First off, I’d like to know the syncing status and app version of your Dropbox app.
How long ago did you notice the options were missing? Was it after a specific OS or Dropbox update? On that note, I’d also like to know the OS version of your device.
sorry for the late reply. it sometimes shows up and sometimes not. I always have the latest Dropbox verison, as I use the iOS integration, i dont have the app open and currently I am not on my work laptop.
I've had this issue as well on Windows 10. It seems 203.3.4812 has fixed the problem for me anyway.
I may have a fix, I had a user report this yesterday on Dropbox for Business Advanced. The report was that the Windows Explorer right-click context menu was missing all Dropbox options. I checked the app version and it was up to date, it appears the update caused the problem. Although Control Panel, Programs only showed one Dropbox version, I found another.
In CMD / Powershell, run the command "winget list"
Check the output for multiple Dropbox entries, in my case two versions were listed:
Dropbox Dropbox.Dropbox 201.4.5552
Dropbox DropboxInc.Dropbox_wkt425jdc3sga 200.4.7134.0
If there are multiple entries, remove the older version e.g:
"winget uninstall DropboxInc.Dropbox_wkt425jdc3sga"
Restart Dropbox, once it is fully synced and ready, test the context menu is backWorth mentioning, before I discovered the above, I had tried installing over the top of what was installed and removing and resinstalling - both failed. I think I found the second Dropbox version was installed as I was working through the advanced uninstall so perhaps that would have worked, but my method avoids the need to resync everything!
- Walter
Hey alonzo86 - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Have you reinstalled since you first noticed this behavior?
If you did and this persists, you can also perform a clean, advanced reinstall.
Let us know of any updates!
Hey there,
i am also missing since a few days the right click context menu on win 10.
What's the latest news on this and is there a fix without reinstalling everything?
regards,
mlon
- Nancy
Welcome back to our forum, mlon! Let’s gather a few info first.
Are you seeing the small Dropbox icon in your system tray? If yes, I’d like to know the Dropbox app’s version and syncing status.
This issue of right click context menu missing on Dropbox update is still present. I'm uninstalling-installing on every update. It is so disturbing. Using the dropbox just on the web without the app is pointless, there are more slick "just web" solutions.
Please Dropbox, if you can't resolve this thing and there are quite few of us with the problem, and possibly more, AT LEAST, just enable for the users to do the manual update if wanted instead forced update that breaks the functionality every time. It may be something in our Windows settings, or registry, or some app doesn't like the dropbox and have conflicts, and who knows what it can be, but we shouldn't care about that and seems that you can't find the solution. So please, give us the option to manually do the updates. If this thing doesn't get resolved in a month or so I'm quitting dropbox and going for something else. I was using Dropbox just for the app that is now broken.
Same Issue here... ! try to solve this remotely in a different language over a Skype call to a non-tech person...??? Incredible, seriously fix that **bleep**!!!
Hi Megan , I have onboarded a new Employee in France. We installed Dropbox on her Windows 10. Version 22H2, Build 19045.4046, Pack 1000.19053.1000.0
We had so many issues that it is currently not possible to work for this person.
1) Main issue is that we do not see the Folder/File Context menu on right click. I have re-started the explorer.exe, and also checked the Online Dropbox Account settings for context menu.
2) We do not see several Sub-Folder in our Desktop Client, but we see them in the browser. so there is a miss-match of files and synchronization. I checked all Client sync settings - all folders a selected. Client says it's up to date.I work a lot with Dropbox onboarding and settings, but this experience on Windows is terrible. I only know such terrible quality from other Services like OneDrive or tresorit so far, but from Dropbox it is a surprise.
They should really look up into this problem, since it is definitely from their side. Seems that they just ignore it. Another update, another reinstall here, and every time is like that since September.
This is still broken. Would be really nice if Dropbox actually fixed it since at this point it's quite clearly an issue on their end, but they don't seem to have any interest in doing so. It's been months now.
- Walter
HI there iNfeRnO B. - could you clarify your device's OS version and the status and version of the desktop app as shown in your menu bar/system tray at the moment?
I can, but it'll just be me jumping through the same hoops everyone else in this thread including me earlier has done before so I'm not sure what the point is. It's something you guys need to fix on your end, not us, your customers. But sure, here, I'll dance the dance once more.
OS Version: Windows 10 Home Version 22H2
Dropbox Version: 189.4.8395
I've also already checked the registry edits, changed my language, restarted, and reinstalled which can sometimes fix it temporarily but the issue will pop up again. This has all been gone over by other people in the thread, it's really tiring having to go over it again and again in an infinite loop instead of the issue actually being fixed by a change on Dropbox's side.
Edit: Sorry if this came off as overly aggressive, I'm just tired and sick currently and would really rather it just worked. I appreciate you having responded at all I guess since some companies don't even do that.
It's Dec 2023 and this is still happening... client v188.4.6302 at present on Windows 10.0.19045.3693
What is the fix to get the context menu for "Copy Dropbox Link", the most useful of any Dropbox features, to show up again?Did you try the change drop box "prefered language" to English not "system" default?
I did all the others as well but it was that one that actually made it click over (restart as well perhaps)if that doesn't work then go through all the steps Turgan wrote
In the end I:
Changed registry keys (i know that's not really comfortable) suspect this is not the main issue.
Re-installed Dropbox (also not fun)
then did the language step..
give it time and a a few re-starts
(seems to be an issue more on my Windows 11 machine than my Win 10 one)
understand you should not have to do this, really drobox should be fixing itself.. very frustrating I know.Hello,
I have to chime in. I have the same issue starting from September... Tried everything suggested by support, everything I could find here on Dropbox community, started my own topic, went with the support back and forth again, tried this language settings here and can't make it work...
The only thing that helps is uninstall-reinstall... I gave up, is there any way to prevent Dropbox from automatic updating at least ?
Thanks
- Megan
Hey James123123, thanks for posting!
Is the application otherwise working and syncing as normal? Do you see the syncing icons on your files or are they missing too?
And have you recently upgraded your OS perhaps?
Also, out of curiosity, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app as well? Maybe that will do the trick.
Keep me posted!
is there a newer build than 182 that also have the "Copy Dropbox Link" context menu working? I'm on v188.4.6302, which was auto-updated and it still doesn't work.
Seems wrong to downgrade to something as old as v182 to make this work right.
This is the most important feature Dropbox has. What is the solution?
