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Forum Discussion
Two Dropbox folders after migration from old Mac to new
A couple of days after I did my migration I noticed on the new Mac there are two dropbox folders, the one that should be syncing with my other devices is called “DropBox personal” however, after the install a second folder of Dropbox contents was created in my user folder and that's the one connected to the cloud. How do I override this copy being selected for synchronization?
It's conceivable that another action might've contributed to this problem in so far as I was reminded by a dropbox prompt that I'm only entitled to share DropBox services with three devices. I'd revisit that page if I knew where it was on my DropBox account webpage.
In summary, there are two questions, 1) how do I correct the wrong dropbox folder being selected for synchronization? (I’ll eventually purge the dupe)
2) what account page would I go to to review the particulars of the three devices for synchronization? (as best I recall Legacy devices were in the list that are no longer being used)
Thanks in advance for any help.
Paul
I've posted this problem earlier, but the backstory related to a MacBook migration is besides the point at this juncture. Contrary to my experience with dropBox on my older MacBook, which faithfully retained valid modification dates, DropBox on my new MacBook bulk-changes folder modification dates, despite the lack of *any activity* or true modification of their contents. See the attached finder list where folders are having their mod dates changed en masse even though there's *no* activity. I wish I could understand this new behavior which really upends the way I work with DropBox contents - sorting by date and seeing instantly what I've been working on recently. This seems so fundamental and counterproductive, I'm hoping there is a fix at hand. Thanks in advance for any help.
Paul
I'm stumped on how to post an image I supplied a valid directory path to the image but clearly that's not doing the job
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Maybe you'd like to try another browser then, Paul?
I've posted elsewhere about the creation of two dropbox folders on a new MacBook following a migration from an old MacBook. Finally I realized what was going on, it seemed as though the working copy of the DropBox ƒ did not store the files locally, which is what I want. Conversely I could see someone opting to have what I'll call “DropBox aliases” that only download on demand, but that's not what I want. What setting or preference can I use to ensure that the entirety of the dropbox folder is stored locally, gets mirrored to the cloud and populate to other devices that I have installed dropbox on?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Paul
- Walter
Hey Paul D.4 - could you please clarify your computer's OS version, and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar?
When it comes to your connected devices, you can see them listed in your account's security page.
As for changing the location of your Dropbox folder, you should be able to achieve it through the app's preferences normally, so I'm not quite sure about the issue at hand. Could you elaborate a tad or provide a screenshot of what's bothering you?
Why are all the modification dates on my folders in dropbox the same?
Almost 2 weeks after doing the migration (on 9/24), and a week after posting this thread about the duplicate dropBoxes I'm seeing something that horrifies me which is the active DropBox does not behave as it used to on my older MacBook in far as little cloud icons appear next to the folders, and they all have the *same date* which was the date of the migration from the old MacBook to the new (9/24). This is a calamity because I routinely use modify date to sort recently used folders to the top of the list in the directory and having the same date, completely undoes this!
I want all the files and DropBox to be truly local and mirrored in the cloud. period. Then what does the grey cloud icon next to the file name mean vs a green check mark in a white circle vs a white check mark in a green circle.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Paul
the old MacBook pro is 10.14.6 Mojave, the new is Sonoma14.6
I wish it was easier to attach an image but as I went to change the dropbox folder location in prefs in the DropBox desktop app the prompt said "are you sure? This will move the dropbox folder and all the files inside from its current location” (which is the root level of my primary user account on the Mac} that would nest the dupe DB folder in “DropBox personal” which was the name of the syncing dropbox folder I used on the old MacBook and managed to successfully share with a recently purchased iPad. So somehow either the migration assistant or some unknown activity by DropBox created a duplicate folder in that Mac User account folder named plain "DropBox" So there's no point in me nesting the duplicate DB folder in what I want to be the correct legacy DropBox folder a.k.a. "DropBox personal" and doubling its size to boot.
DropBox version in the Application folder 208.4.5824
Can you give me more information as to what you seek when you ask about "the status of the dropbox desktop app as shown in the menu bar? There's a lot going on there but no notifications that I think are relevant.
Thanks,
Paul
Though having 2 dropbox folders on the new MacBook post migration was anonymous and troubling, I think I figured things out. Walter your reply helped me in so far as I did go to the Security page and saw there was activity on both MacBook devices which made me think there was synchronizing happening.
The upshot seems to be that the he legacy dropbox folder on the older Mac named "DropBox personal" is still valid and synchronizing to the new MacBook. The confusing gotcha is that the synchronizing is happening between differently named folders, on the new it’s named plain “DropBox.” The one named "DropBox personal" on the new MacBook is simply an extra copy and not being synchronized with anything and destined to be deleted once I’m absolutely sure.
The other thing that helped me understand this is it when I go to the root level of my Mac’s user folder there's a little checkbox to the right of the active valid DropBox which had me run some tests to see that while differently named… the respective dropbox folders are syncing. Hope this makes sense and is helpful to others.
Thanks again Walter.
Paul
I saw that I could make the change by going to preferences after clicking on the dropbox icon on the upper right of my Mac. This option to change dropbox folder location "fix" it's not to appealing because it moves that duplicate dropbox into dropbox personal which is not desirable.
