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Cannot delete DropBox Folder in Public Folder on Mac
How can I delete the Dropbox folder on my Mac. User-Public- Dropbox
I cannot delete this folder (there is no option to move to trash when I right-click), and I can't drag it to trash.
- Hi kviavattine, is the public folder a smart folder in Finder, or a normal folder?
Are you certain this is the official Dropbox folder, and not the Mac-specific Drop Box folder?
8 Replies
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi kviavattine, welcome aboard our Community!
The Dropbox folder becomes a simple folder on your computer and stops syncing to your account after you sign out of the Dropbox application on the computer.
This will also prevent any unwanted deletions, since if you sign out, your Dropbox files are still safe on our website.
Can you try to sign out first and then to delete the Dropbox folder to see if that works?
Cheers! I tried what you suggested and it didn't work for me.
- JayHi kviavattine, is the public folder a smart folder in Finder, or a normal folder?
Are you certain this is the official Dropbox folder, and not the Mac-specific Drop Box folder? Perhaps it is a Mac-Specific Drop Box Folder. Does that mean it is native to my Mac and has nothing to do with Drop box here?
- JayIt seems to be that way, the only common thing is the name, since their folder should be called 'Drop Box', with a space in it.
Have you checked the article to see if you can disable it, or make any changes to that folder via the Mac OS itself? I actually think you may be right. Well, I would really appreciate if you could assist with disabling. I deleted it within the file sharing system preferences as the article suggested but it's still there.
- JayI wouldn't know the steps myself, or be able to advise on this matter, since it is an Apple feature, not a Dropbox feature.
You can try researching more about public folders on their site, or contact them directly for further assistance. I know it's a late reply, but I had the exact same problem. The folder transfered over from a different Mac on which I don't even have dropbox installed. The solution that worked for me was to open Terminal, go to the Public folder (or I guess any other folder in which your Drop Box folder is placed) and then issue the following command:
sudo rm -r 'Drop Box'
After which you have to type your user password (you need admin rights to remove the folder).
sudo is the command to execute with admin rights
rm is the remove command
-r means to delete everything (otherwise it will say there are files in the folder, even though there aren't any files in the folder shown).
The folder name needs to be between brackets if there is a space in the folder name.
I hope it helps some people googling this in the future.
