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How can I have two Macs syncing with the same Home folders?
How can I move the folders in the Home folder so that they are in my Dropbox? I want them all synced between two macs. My aim is to have both macs as close as possible to being copies of each other.
Hi MichaelQC, thanks for messaging today!
If you want the two devices to sync their Home folders directly, then this won’t be possible using the Dropbox desktop application, though there might be some other service or app that links to Dropbox which could perform this action for you.
There is the automatic computer backup feature, however, this doesn’t work the way in which you’re looking for, since each computer would have their own folder syncing to the site, essentially duplicating data for you.
Hope this helps to clarify matters!
Am I able to use the new computer backup feature to sync my Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folder feature to sync across my two computers? It looks like it is only a backup feature and would not do something similiar to how I believe iCloud Drive works for Macs where it will keep those folders in sync for you.
Is that accurate?
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi TheEconomist, thanks for posting this question on the Dropbox Community.
You are right, the computer backup feature lets you back up computer folder such as Desktop, Documents, and Downloads, to your Dropbox folder, and any changes you make to them will sync.
You can find more information about this feature, here.
Hope this helps!
Hi Lusil – I realize any changes will sync to the cloud, but I would like the changes to automatically sync to another Mac's desktop.
I'd like to use this feature to keep the desktops of two different Macs in sync, so when I edit a file on one computer on the desktop, those changes are reflected on the desktop of the 2nd computer.
So far it only looks like I can backup and sync changes to the Dropbox cloud, not another machine.
I'm wondering if I am missing a configuration that will allow me to use this to keep two desktops on two different machines in sync without needing to manually drag files out of my dropbox folder on one of them.
Thank you.
- Lusil
Thanks for getting back to me, TheEconomist.
If you have computer backup enabled on both devices, it should add the relevant items to your Dropbox folder, but each computer will have its own path in your Dropbox folder.
For example, if your computers are called "First" and "Second", computer backup will create two separate folders, called "My Mac First" and "My Mac Second", to save your Documents/Desktop/Downloads folders, respectively.
However, just to make sure that we're on the same page, could you let me know a few details, such as:
- What does the Dropbox icon (that's next to your computer's clock) show when you hover over it on both computers?
- Do you by any chance have the computer backup folders selectively synced on one of the devices?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
