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Forum Discussion
boominski
6 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Unable to stop or turn off desktop backup [SOLVED]
A while ago I turned on the new 'backup desktop/documents/downloads' feature. Now I want to turn it off, but I can't. There's no obvious 'turn this feature off' button. All the instructions I've seen point to a 'manage backups' or 'import' tab, which I don't have. I've upgraded to the latest Beta (Win 10), uninstalled, reinstalled, rebooted several times and nothing. I've just set Dropbox up again and I have unchecked the 'MY PC' box. But Dropbox is just merrily syncing all my stuff again. It's insane that Dropbox would enable this feature and not give users a simple way to turn the thing off. Does anyone know how I can do it?
So, for anybody who happens to stumble upon this - here is how you can solve it.
1. Move your Dropbox folder - I found this solution accidentally, because my PC was getting full and I decided to move my Dropbox folder to another partition, but you could move it anywhere. Go into the Dropbox app, click on the picture of you, select 'preferences' , then 'sync' and then select the option to move your Dropbox folder. Just put it in a different location. Doing this will nuke your desktop. But do not panic. You will not lose any data.
2. Re-create your Desktop - i.e. make a folder called 'Desktop', in C:\Users\YourName\'.
3. Copy or move all your old desktop files from the Dropbox folder called 'My PC blah blah whatever \ Desktop' to your actual Desktop. This will get your desktop back, and Dropbox will no longer sync it, because it will be looking at the 'My PC' files.
4. Do steps 2-3 for the Downloads and Documents folders.
5. Get coffee.
44 Replies
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- Enomy5 years agoNew member | Level 2
Thanks so much dude. This solution calmed my anger and restored my photoshop from being torn to pieces by dropbox, and the rest of my desktop seems recovered as well
Thank you!! - JGLR5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Have the same problem. I can untick the folders but than the 'save' option becomes inactive?
- Jay5 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi JGLR, if the Save option is inactive, then it could mean that the computer backup feature is already disabled. When you view the Backups tab in the Dropbox desktop application, does it show 'Set up', or Manage at the top? - JGLR5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
This is what I get...
- Jay5 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Yes, it looks like it's disabled, so it isn't active currently.
Are the Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders still in the Dropbox folder? - JGLR5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Yes they are and if I try to remove them they seem also to get lost from my pc?
- Jay5 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Could you go into the Dropbox desktop application preferences, click the Account tab, press Alt+H, and then choose 'Reset OS folders'?
This will move the folders and files back to their previous locations, which will also delete them from the Dropbox account online.
- JGLR5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Tried so, it confirmed that it will stop back up but I still sees the file 'pc' in my online account?
- Jay5 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Is it just the folder 'PC', with no other files or folders inside? - JGLR5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
No, it has the folders desktop, documents and downloads (and it's content) in it....
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