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Can I use the Dropbox desktop app on Linux without AppIndicator?
I'm using dropbox desktop on archlinux without desktop environment. I'm using a window manager directly (in specific, awesomeWM).
Recently when I start the dropbox desktop, it has a popup message saying I new version of dropbox will not work without AppIndicator, and it said my current environment doesn't support it. And I will not work after May 27.
In fact I've already installed libappindicator-gtk2 and libappindicator-gtk3.
I've two questions:
- How can I make it detect and use the installed AppIndicator?
- Can I stay with the current version of desktop desktop, even after May 27?
Hi Tung L.
Sorry to hear that you're running into this issue!
My understanding is that on the target date, Dropbox will still work "headless" (no tray icon / UI). https://help.dropbox.com/installs/system-requirements#linux-operating-system
If you want a tray icon, then you might be out of luck with "awesomeWM", which does not support appindicator: https://github.com/awesomeWM/awesome/issues/2995
If you want to continue without a tray icon, it looks like there's a hidden feature to let the user silence the notification if they first click learn more then restart the app.
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After the cutoff date (27th of May), dropbox still sync the files, but the tray icon is not showing up. While other app (e.g. rescuetime) can still shows up. It seems possible to still make it work technically, if the team would make another version of implementation, that would be great. Otherwise, we cannot do any settings on the dropbox client.
I guess there are some settings that can be only done on client side, not via the dropbox web UI, e.g. which folder to sync or skip.
If making another version of tray icon is too demanding for the team, it would be helpful if dropbox can do settings via config file (like .gitconfig), then we can still use it in "headless mode" with ability to configure it.
- Neal
Community Manager
Hi NateAnderson,
Dropbox does not currently support Fedora 42 and that is why you're seeing this message. We are currently working on this issue and you can learn more from this thread.
Please follow to keep posted!
I get the same error message on Fedora 42 Workstation running Wayland and a standard Gnome desktop.
Hi Neal, thanks a lot, my machine has a similar message too: "Unsupported desktop environment ". When you wrote "...you can still use it in headless mode" it means when I´ll do any changes to any file it will keep perfectly syncing to the dropbox´s server once the date has passed (May 27, 2025)? is it right? . P.S. Sorry for my English. I´m a Spanish speaker.
