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Questions13's avatar
Questions13
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago
Solved

Moving files out of Dropbox now defaults to the 'copy' function

Starting sometime this week, whenever I try to move a file out of my Dropbox to another location on the same drive, it will default to 'copy' and leave the original still in Dropbox. This duplication now requires that I manually delete the file from my Dropbox if I want to complete the action of relocating a file.

 

However, if I drag a file into my Dropbox from anywhere on the same drive, it will behave normally and 'move' the file without duplication. Moving files within folders in Dropbox also retains the default 'move' function.

 

What is causing this bizarre 'copy' behavior and how do I get rid of it? I want the default drag behavior, within the same drive, to be 'move'.

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  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    2 years ago

    Hi Everybody,

     

    Thanks for your patience while we looked into this. This change in behavior was the result of a change by Microsoft. Dragging a folder out of a root sync folder now defaults to the copy function on Windows 11. This change is not limited to Dropbox, but any root sync folder.

     

    As a workaround, shift+click and drag will allow the expected cut + paste or "move folder" functionality.

     

    Regards,

    Ben

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  • Questions13's avatar
    Questions13
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    Just as a bump, there's another user that is also experiencing this issue.

  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    2 years ago

    Hi Questions13 and shin7,

     

    I've notified our engineering team and they are investigating. I'll provide updates here and follow up with any questions we may have. Thanks for reporting this!

     

    Regards,

    Ben

  • jstrmac's avatar
    jstrmac
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    Same problem here. Windowns 11 Pro 23H2

     

    It's like all of a sudden windows is treating the dropbox folder like a server share folder and not a local folder which would be typical how a server share behaves.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hey everyone!

     

    If you're still seeing this behavior, can we send you an email, so we can investigate a bit further?

  • catlover's avatar
    catlover
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    Having the same issue. Dragging files out of the Dropbox folder defaults to copy. This started happening this week. Running Windows 11.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hey catlover - sorry to hear about this.

     

    Would it be OK if we reached out via email to have a further look internally?

  • shin7's avatar
    shin7
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Hi, Hannah. I'm sorry for the late reply.
    The problem still exists at my Drobbox folder. so could you send me email ?

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    No biggie shin7 - I've just sent you a quick message to have a further look internally, so please have a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

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