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Forum Discussion
weiskott
4 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Sync icons missing in the Dropbox folder in Finder
I recently had a new work desktop (Mac) deployed. While all my downloaded Dropbox files were successfully transferred, there are now no sync icons next to Dropbox files in Finder. I have never had th...
- 4 years ago
Hi weiskott, can you also try the following?
Click on the Apple logo located at the top-left of the screen.
Click on System Preferences.
Click on Extensions.
Click on Finder Extensions.
Only leave Dropbox Finder Integration ticked.
Once this is completed suggest to close the window.
Click one more time on the Apple logo at the top-left of the screen.
Click on Force Quit.
Look for Finder on the list.
Click on Finder then Relaunch.
weiskott
4 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Hannah, I have completed the steps you outlined, and it didn't solve the problem alas. I did find "Dropbox Finder Extension" in the Activity Monitor after quitting Dropbox, and I force-quitted it, but I still don't see the sync icons.
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
4 years agoThanks for the update here and happy Friday!
What if you force quit all Dropbox instances except for the 'Dropbox Finder Integration' one and then force quit and relaunch Finder?
Does it make a difference?
- GuZ4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
We have the same issue, since the latest updates Dropbox sync options menu are all different and there are no more sync icons.
All files display as zero bytes now.
Is this a bug, a temporary issue or did Dropbox change?
- Walter4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey weiskott, sorry to jump in here, but could you maybe try installing the desktop app on a newly created OS profile on your computer and let us know if you notice any difference?
- GuZ4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
@megan yes, I followed all steps.
It seems related to updates to the OS and the Dropbox app.
A lot of functionality has changed, so I am not even sure this is a bug or that the icons are simply no longer part of the integration.
- Megan4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi weiskott, can you also try the following?
Click on the Apple logo located at the top-left of the screen.
Click on System Preferences.
Click on Extensions.
Click on Finder Extensions.
Only leave Dropbox Finder Integration ticked.
Once this is completed suggest to close the window.
Click one more time on the Apple logo at the top-left of the screen.
Click on Force Quit.
Look for Finder on the list.
Click on Finder then Relaunch. - GuZ4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Today it started working again as expected!
😄
- Nick S.504 years agoExplorer | Level 4
I confirm the chosen solution works for me too. Thank you Megan!
I suspect that the culprit may be Adobe's Core Sync Helper - I am not using Adobe Cloud for file syncing (as I have Dropbox 😉) so I could safely disable it.
- Paul H.964 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Megan,
This solution brought the sync icons back, but they're wrong. Specifically, if I have a folder with some files offline and other files online, that folder will show a cloud (all offline).
Screenshot attached.
Is there any way to know when folders have some files offline and some online without opening them up? I have folders within folders within folders so opening them up is not a practical solution for me to know this.
- Paul
- Paul H.964 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Thanks you Hannah for the quick and clear response! The answer is disappointing so I hope they can resolve this soon.
According to Finder I have 116,293 items in my dropbox, well organized in a structure of folders within folders. There's simply no way I can transverse that tree to see the sync status of all my individual files, I need it summarized at the folder level as in the past.
- Peleela4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
I am having this issue with both of my Dropbox accounts (personal and business). It only just started today when I was moving a lot of files, and I was getting the Finder message about duplicates. Then Dropbox quit unexpectedly. Now, I no longer see the Dropbox icons on my files, nor do I see any of the Finder Quick Actions. And, Dropbox continues to quit unexpectedly.
I have tried everything listed in this thread, in addition to other steps suggested in other threads. This includes:
- uninstall Dropbox, then reinstall
- double-check the System Preferences for Dropbox
- making sure the Finder Integration is checked
- force quit the Finder
- using Activity Selector to force quit all Dropbox processes, then start it up again, then relaunch the Finder
- I even turned off Adobe Core Sync Helper based on Nick S.50's comment
And then I read Walter's note about installing Dropbox on another newly created OS profile. It is working just fine on that other profile. I can also report that the files that I thought I had moved earlier today have not actually been moved. (So perhaps my Dropbox was having sync issues earlier than I realized, and then it crashed because what I was seeing and reality were totally out of sync.)
So far nothing has fixed the problem on my main profile, and Dropbox continues to quit unexpectedly about every 1-2 minutes so I just can't use it right now. I'm hoping someone here might have a suggestion for what I can do on my main OS profile to fix this. Let me know if any other info is needed.
- Jay4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi Peleela, do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?
- Peleela4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Hi Jay, no I don't have any of that software installed.
- Hannah4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Peleela, sorry to jump in here.
The fact that the application gives an "unexpectedly quit" error, could potentially be caused by the very big move you were trying to make.
Has the app managed to finish syncing? Or is it quitting mid-sync?
When the app is open and running, what do you see when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?
- Peleela4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
When I open Dropbox it says "syncing..." and then shortly thereafter it says your "files are up to date". Awhile after that, it will crash.
- Peleela4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I have rebooted my system. But just to be certain, I did so again. I have rebooted my computer, made sure that I had no other programs or non-Apple utilities running, started Dropbox - waited for it to start and state that everything is in sync. And I do not see the Dropbox icons nor the Dropbox Quick Actions. And then, Dropbox crashes after about 2 minutes.
I am wondering if there is a proper way to start from scratch. Could I delete everything from my computer and then try to get Dropbox to sync from scratch? Might that be the next step?
- Hannah4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Thanks for the update here, Peleela and sorry for the delay.
I'd like you to try a more advanced reinstall of the Dropbox app, to see if that does the trick.
Please save and quit all programs accessing files in the Dropbox folder, and then follow these instructions:
Note: Please be sure to take note or take a screenshot of any Selective Sync settings you may have applied as well as the location of your Dropbox folder (if not in the default location) prior to re-installing, as you will need to match these settings upon re-install.
1) Stop Dropbox (If needed).
2) Download the newest version.
3) Open your Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
4) Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal, one at a time, and press ENTER after each one. Please make sure you copy and paste these commands (don't type them by hand), as getting them wrong could cause some harm.
You'll be prompted for your computer's admin password (not your Dropbox password) after entering the first command. Keep in mind that the password field in the terminal will remain blank as you type your password.
After you type it, just press ENTER. You'll know that these instructions complete normally once the initial line of text (called prompt) comes up again.
Before pasting them, you will need to alter the commands, depending on the path and name of your Dropbox folder. For example this command:
sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox
will become:
sudo chmod -R u+rw "/Users/yourusername/Dropbox" (make sure you use the quotation marks too):
sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"
sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox
sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox
sudo mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old
sudo chmod -N ~
sudo mv /Library/DropboxHelperTools ~/DropboxHelperTools.old
Please note that once the prompt displays, the instruction completes the requested task and is ready for the next command. If the command returns an error or does not respond after an hour, you may want to try restarting your computer and try these steps again.
5) Delete the Dropbox application from the Applications folder. You may need to provide your computer password in order to perform this action.
6) Open the .dmg file from step # 2 and double click the Dropbox icon to install Dropbox.
7) When Dropbox has finished installing, during the initial setup and sign in process, apply any Selective Sync settings you may have had prior to the reinstall and select the Dropbox folder location (if not in the default location).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this process removes the previous settings and configuration, if you wish to avoid re-downloading your Dropbox content, you will need to manually choose the location for Dropbox to sync to, otherwise you will create a new Dropbox folder which will start to download your content again.
To select your already established folder on your drive, after signing in and choosing which folders to sync, and before you click on "Open my Dropbox folder", you should see an "Advanced Settings" link, click on this.
Then you can choose the parent folder of the already established Dropbox folder. For example, if you have your Dropbox folder in the path "/Volumes/DifferentPlace/Dropbox (Team)" you'll want to select the folder "/Volumes/DifferentPlace/".
At the end of this process, after clicking "Open my Dropbox folder", it might take some time to re-index the files and sync any pending changes.
Let me know how it goes!
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