Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

enjayare's avatar
enjayare
Explorer | Level 3
7 years ago
Solved

Locked folder that can't be removed?

Hello Forum members,

I have a folder that was sent to me by a client a couple of years ago that I can't remove from my Dropbox. The folder has a grey padlock on the bottom left corner and also an X in a red circle on the bottom right corner - see screen shot. I am using a Mac with OS Mojave 10.14.6

Can anyone advise how to remove this folder as I dont have authority to unlock it.

 

  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    7 years ago

    enjayare, may be something else have happened. Probably immutable flag have been set. If so, you can trow it out using: "sudo chflags nouchg /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee" and/or "sudo chflags noschg /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee". Try it, just to be sure.

    Finally give the result from "ls -lO /Users/njrcon/Dropbox/Tender\ -\ 160\ Brook\ St\,\ Coogee" or just take a look on get info window to check is "Locked" is still checked.

39 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • ARGPVA's avatar
    ARGPVA
    Explorer | Level 3
    6 years ago

    Hi - I have 3 locked folders on my Mac desktop that are no longer on Dropbox.com. I can't delete them - even with Terminal - and they have been synching for months. I've already uninstalled and re-installed Dropbox. Any ideas for deleting the folders from my desktop?

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Hi ARGPVA, thanks for messaging today!

     

    Are these files locked by the OS, and are you able to unlock in the Finder settings?

     

    Could you forward a screenshot of the folders in Finder, and also what you see when you use ‘Get info’ on one of the folders.

     

    Keep me posted!

  • ARGPVA's avatar
    ARGPVA
    Explorer | Level 3
    6 years ago

    Hi, thanks for the reponse. No they don't seem to be locked by the OS. When I open up info for the folder on Finder, I don't have the option of unlocking it.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    It looks like it is locked by the OS, given that there is a checkmark there under 'Locked'

     

    Could you try the steps here to see if they help.

  • ARGPVA's avatar
    ARGPVA
    Explorer | Level 3
    6 years ago

    Unfortunately it's only on my desktop in the Dropbox folder, so I can't leave the folder online (no longer exists). I also can't move the folder to Trash on the Desktop because it's locked and won't allow me to.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Thanks for the details, it sounds like you're experiencing the issue I've merged your thread into.

     

    As this seems to be a Mac issue, could you try the steps provided by the other community members to see if this helps?

  • rothm 's avatar
    rothm
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    There is a locked folder in the dropbox files on my computer that I can not move to the trash (I'm on a Mac) and that will not sync with dropbox. The folder was originally shared with me on dropbox; however, the folder no longer shows up on when I go to dropbox using the web browser (even though the folder is on my machine). 

     

    I've tried rebooting, removing and reloading dropbox, and all the other suggestions I could find from the FAQs and other on-line help.  I've also had a hour-long session with the IT folks where I work and they were unable to find a way to get rid of the folder.  Advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

     

    My computer is endlessly trying to sync the one folder (though I can pause it when the endless syncing becomes a problem)

     

    MR

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago
    Hi @rothm, thanks for reaching out to us. 

    I moved your post here, where other users have had a similar issue. 

    Could you have a look at the troubleshooting mentioned here, and let us know if it helps?

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!