After receiving the unwanted prompt during setup of Dropbox "Do you want to backup your entire computer," I accidentally hit the yes button, and had to wait while all my files were moved to a Dropbox folder. I do not want them there. I cannot find out how to undo this. Help would be appreciated. Mac Mini OS Big Sur

Hi hallgee, let's jump right into this! It sounds like you enabled our Backup feature. You can disable it using the steps mentioned in this article. If you have any questions, let me know!

I managed to remove everything from the dropbox directory that had been added to my root directory, and everything subsequently shoved into it. The problem is, even though my computer shows that everything is back at root, the old dropbox directory still reads 94 GB, even though it’s empty. I’m afraid to throw it away in case it will trash all of that. How do I safely dispose of this directory? I have restarted, etc. Do I need to change the permissions on this dropbox directory in order to get it to read 0 GB? Thanks.

Hi hallgee, can you clarify what you mean when you say Dropbox directory and root directory? You also mentioned the old Dropbox directory. Do you mean that you now have two Dropbox folders? If you could send me a couple of screenshots, that'd be amazing, in order for me to have a visual too.

The detailed screenshot shows the directory structure of my current HD. Hallgee is root. The directory called dropbox (old) is the one into which most of the files in Hallgee were put. I had to extract them, put the files which had been forced into dropbox (old) back to Root. That dropbox (old) directory still reads almost 98 GB, but in the second photo, you can see it’s empty. Rather than doing this back-and-forth, I would like to talk to someone. I understand I’m not on a paid plan, but your software derailed me into this, so the least you owe me is a call back. My number is [email removed as per Community Guidelines] I can’t appear to put photos here, so I’m re-copying this into the email as well.

Hi hallgee, you should be able to attach your screenshots back to us by clicking the camera-like icon that looks like this: As for phone Support, as you mentioned it's not available to non-Business users, I'm afraid. Also, if you access the app's preferences and specifically your Sync tab, you should be able to see where your Dropbox folder is located. This is where your Dropbox files should be located.

Remove Dropbox Backup for my entire macOS machine.

15 Replies

Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Thanks for the images. The Dropbox (Old) folder would usually result from a different Dropbox account being linked to the computer, or an attempt to migrate to the new File Provider version of the app.

Seeing as the folder shows nothing in it, and yet is taking up disk space, could you access that folder again, like in your last image, and press Command + Shift + Period ( . ) in order to show any potential hidden files?
hallgee
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Greetings Jay,

This problem remains unsolved. Will you please contact me via email, as I have options I am considering, since I am unable to talk to a person at dropbox.

Thank you,

[removed per Community Guidelines]
Nancy
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Welcome back, hallgee; I’m sorry to hear the issue persists. Did you follow Jay’s last suggestion and no files/folders appeared still?

If not, then I can most definitely log a ticket for you and troubleshoot this internally.
hallgee
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Hi Nancy, sorry to drag you into the middle of this. After all I have been through with this, all I need is for a technical support person to control my computer, and finally resolve this issue. I don’t want to talk openly about this issue because this is a public forum. Is there any chance you could email me privately? Thank you very much.

Gregory

[removed per Community Guidelines]
Nancy
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
No worries, hallgee; I’ve logged a ticket for you to look into this further.

Please note that, even in this case, we can’t have a screen-sharing session and I won’t be able to take any actions on your computer. However, I can check details on your Dropbox account and provide the next possible steps or gather more info, in case this needs to be sent to our specialists. If you’re OK with that, please reply to my email and we’ll go from there.

Forum Discussion

Remove Dropbox Backup for my entire macOS machine.

15 Replies

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