Forum Discussion

ale0805's avatar
ale0805
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Desktop folder no longer backing up after Dropbox backup update

Good morning, I state that 2 days ago my desktop was correctly synchronized. Yesterday after updating the dropbox backup utility, the entire desktop is no longer synchronized and a "my dropbox files...
desktop
Dropbox Backup
Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Sorry to hear about this, samburden.

 

After the update is complete, your desktop and downloads folders should be back in their original locations.

 

Is it possible that the Dropbox app hasn't finished updating yet?

 

If you hover over your Dropbox icon, what do you see?

samburden's avatar
samburden
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Thanks Hannah, Ahh I see! Yes it looks like it's still backing up. So the 'My Mac' folder should re-appear when this finishes?


Is using this feature to mirror my desktop on both machines the correct way?

 

Best,
Sam

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

    Thanks for checking, Sam!

     

    So, once the update is finished, you shouldn't be able to see your backed up folders inside the Dropbox folder anymore.

     

    They'll still be backed up, but they should go back to their original locations, the ones they were in, before you had enabled backup, so you should be able to access them from there and also from your backups page online.

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

    Hi Hannah, The backup has finished but the files have not re-appeared on my laptop.


    Perhaps I should explain how I was using the backup feature;

    I had both my laptop and office Mac's backing up to one folder called 'My Mac' within my Dropbox. This kept any changes in sync across both machines. If I changed a file on one machine it would automatically update on the other and I could also access my desktop files via the dropbox app on my phone. All very handy in making sure my files were kept up to date.

    Since updating to the new version of Dropbox Backup the 'My Mac' folder has disappeared from my Dropbox folder and my laptop has lost all files on the Desktop and the downloads folder is now just a question mark in the dock. When I look at where my desktop and downloads folder should be in finder, they are now just alias's rather than folders. My office machine is as it should be. Does that make sense?

    Thanks in advance for your help.

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

    Hey samburden, thanks for the added info! 

     

    When you visit your account online, are you able to see your Backup as it should be with all the recent changes in it?

     

    Also, would you be able to send me a couple of screenshots from the way your Desktop and Downloads folder now looks like, and the alias you mentioned? 

About Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

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!