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annml's avatar
annml
Explorer | Level 4
8 months ago

My laptop doesn't show up in my connected devices list, even though it's syncing files

Having trouble with dropbox not seeing a device. As in, if you go to settings and then click Security - you scroll down and it shows your device list and the devices that have been removed from list. Details:

 

-- I can have 3 active devices, presently shows only 2 listed

-- Have ended all dropbox tasks multiple times, have restarted laptop

-- Have quit dropbox in taskbar tray

-- Have reinstalled dropbox multiple times

-- I know dropbox is working with this particular laptop bc I've created "test" documents and saved them on laptop local dropbox file explorer - which then sync up to online files immediately

 

Because dropbox isn't seeing this laptop, I can't use backups. When I try to created a backup, it shows my old PC as the only option for the backup -- I can't choose my laptop bc it doesn't see it.

 

Any ideas?

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey annml, thanks for reaching out to us.

     

    This is a quite strange issue indeed, but let's see what we can find.

     

    Just to confirm, is the Dropbox app linked to the same Dropbox account as your browser?

     

    You'll find the email address of the linked account in the "account" tab in your Dropbox preferences.

     

    Also, if you go to the "backups" tab in the preferences, do you see an option to enable backup?

     

    If not, what do you see instead?

     

    Let me know and we'll go from there.

    • annml's avatar
      annml
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hi Hannah - thanks so much for replying!

       

      -- Yes same account on browser vs app

       

      -- When I look at preferences, I see "This PC" and then to the far right I see "manage backups". If I click on that, I eventually get to a "get started" button -- clicking that brings me to a window where I can "choose files" and I can select "more". When I go to select the files, it lists the name of my old desktop. I don't have an option to select files from the new laptop I'm on.

       

      -- I don't see "enable backup" anywhere.

       

      -- And just checked again on browser -- if I click Security and scroll down, it sees only my phone and my old PC

       

      -- Also tried a suggestion from my phone's dropbox app - it said go to dropbox.com/connect. I tried that using the laptop that I want to connect to but it was still not listed in devices after I tried that

       

      Thanks!

      • Hannah's avatar
        Hannah
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Thanks for the update, annml, can you test something for me?

         

        Add a test file to your Dropbox folder, allow it to sync and then go to your account online and check the version history.

         

        It should show you the name of the device the file was added from, so let me know what you see there.

  • rxiang's avatar
    rxiang
    Explorer | Level 4

    I've been having so much trouble with Dropbox. Dropbox used to sync my whole computer – I could see the little icons on the files in my Finder, not just files in my local Dropbox folder on Finder. It was super convenient to manage files on my computer and I loved how I could set things to "online-only" to save device storage. One day though, all the icons had disappeared, my computer suddenly filled up (because I guess they were no longer set as online only and all started taking up storage on my device), and I learned a new "Backup" feature had been introduced. 

     

    I've tried everything – I've chatted with a few agents who said if I backed up my whole computer I'd be able to get those icons back and things would be back to the way they used to be. I did back up my whole computer to Dropbox (in the app dropdown it says 'Everything is up to date' / under Backups there's a green "Done"). When I click "View backed up files" though, I see my Mac marked with "Unlinked" under its status. The chat agent asked me to send an email because I need extra help, but no one has replied for 15 days and somehow my ticket was marked as closed.

     

    This problem is making everything a headache – I can barely use apps on my computer because of all the storage suddenly being used up. I can't seem to get any personalized support from Dropbox. This is my last resort – please help.

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hi rxiang, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

       

      Could you try contacting the support team again for them to investigate this matter in more detail on their end?

       

      Once you get a ticket ID from the automated response, please let me know the number here so I can locate it in our system

      • rxiang's avatar
        rxiang
        Explorer | Level 4

         Thanks Jay! Here's the ticket number: #23638400

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