Mac osx - strange extra files appearing when downloading files directly.

Hey there EstherWilliams, thanks for checking in with us!

I've moved your post to this thread to keep similar questions together, since other users also report this.

As Daphne mentions earlier here, the __MACOSX folder is a hidden folder containing metadata of the files. However, its contents may be read by Windows OS. 

You can have a look at what Rich and Labtab  mention above, but I also found this thread from Apple's Community where other users talked about this. 

I hope this helps to some extent!

Great, thank you, it's somewhere to start.

I am having the exact same issue with the strange additional _MACOSX file being generated. I am working on a new Macbook Pro 16" OSX 10.15.4

Hey, everyone, wondering if a solution was ever found for this issue. The same exact thing happens to me when downloading a Dropbox folder to my Mac. I get an additional folder named _MACOSX containing a duplicate of the dowloaded folder and inside it only some of its files, all 70 bytes and cannot be opened. A message about the files being damaged and harmful.

My question is: does anyone know if deleting these _MACOSX folders would affect the main downloaded folders?

Thank you in advanced for your help!

Hi Jef.
I'm surprised that after more than a year, the Dropbox Help Team did not answered about the issue. You couldn't have been more didactic and patient.
I've just got into these answers now because I have the same issue on my Mac, but only today I'have decided to search for DB help.
If you have found a solution it would be great if you share.
Thanks
Antonio

Thanks Antonio. Sadly I never found a solution to this annoying little glitch. I felt I had put in so much time answering questions with this thread and never getting satisfactory answers that I didn't pursue the next level of tech support - so partially my fauly, but I just figured if others are having the same problem, eventually DB will fix things with an update somewhere along the line. Hasn't happened yet. 

This is now a MASSIVE problem that also happens to Window users when they try to donaload from Dropbox. The dreaded "__MACOSX" folder keeps appearing. Any files within it will produce an error resulting in clients and suppliers loosing confidence in our services. The Dropbox team have FAILED to provide clear help in this matter.

We will loose business out of this and therefore we will be forced to move away from Dropbox - simple.

Your effort has been huge! the problem is totally due to the Dropbox help team being unwilling to go the extra mile to protect their service. This problem is a serious issue. We are now looking at alternatives to Dropbox.

UPDATE: The exact same folders and files work without any problems in Microsoft OneDrive when downloaded on a MAC or PC. We will be using this service instead as a work around when sharing production and time critical files.

Hope this helps any Dropbox users who need an urgent solution. 

I had the same issue and contacted Dropbox Support today. They explained that this is a Mac OS behaviour and not something to do with Dropbox. I then googled "zip from Mac to Windows generates extra folder _MACOSX" and indeed it turns out it's an Apple thing. Hope this helps someone.