Dropbox desktop app scaling issues on Windows 10

Hey AndresMkesGames, thanks for the nudge & taking the time to compile this detailed description for me! If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to have a closer look on what you’re describing us through our Official Support channel, so I’ve now made sure to create a ticket on our system on your behalf.

Whenever you have some spare time, please have a look at your inbox for my message & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you soon. Thanks again & I’ll be awaiting your next reply!

Thank you, Jane. I have replied to your ticket.

I am in the same boat. For me, even to sign in to dropbox I had to change the Resolution from 4k to 1920 and disable scaling, otherwise Dropbox app wouldn't even show up apart of the taskbar icon. 

It is definitely still broken in the latest (As of 14/10/2019) realease.

Actually, just disabling the scaling makes the app work again. With 150% scaling it is broken.

Actual version (Had to disable scaling to get it haha) I am running is v82.4.156.

 Hi Jane,

It's pretty simple to replicate, don't think visual aids will be needed. Very much the same as what other posters said here.

To replicate simply do following:

1. Have a PC/Laptop with UHD or 4k screen and scaling set up to 150% (Display Settings -> Scale and layout)

2. Click on the Dropbox icon in the taskbar or start menu.

3. At this point you will see that nothing happens. As if your click had no effect or applciation was hang. There are no errors in Event viewer or anywhere else.

4. Change the scaling to 100% (Display Settings -> Scale and layout) and you'll see that the dropbox App is actually up -> It's just not showing at all with 150% scaling.

If that's not clear, please let me know, I can probably screen record a video of this behaviour when I am back home (I don't have 4k screens at work).

Thanks!

Hello,

Was there ever a definitive solution to this problem???

I'm aware of the workaround by changing the DPI compatibility but it's not a proper fix.  It's now March of 2020 and I still have this problem.

It's been so long now that I can't actually remember the last time it worked properly but it definitely used to. It's started around the time the new "Dropbox App" thing launched. I remember that much as I enabled it as an early preview from my Business admin console. 

There has to be a solution without clean installing Windows, surely???

This is what I have tried so far:

1. Uninstall, restart and reinstall.
2. Advanced uninstall, restart and reinstall.
3. Advanced uninstall. Remove leftover Dropbox registry folders from Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node. Then restart and reinstall. 

None of them fixes the problem.

For reference, my main Windows 10 machine is a virtual machine running in Parallels Desktop 15.1.3. I have been using Parallels and this same VM for many years. As of today, it is running the latest Windows 10 updates.

I also have a second Mac which runs a Windows 10 virtual machine in Parallels, which I've also had for a number of years now. It exhibits the same problem.

I have also tried the following:

1. Creating a new local user account on the same machine. The problem is still there.
2. Creating a new Windows 10 virtual machine in Parallels Desktop, installing the latest Windows 10 updates, then installing Dropbox. No problems there. All works lovely.
3. Creating a new Windows 10 virtual machine in VMware Fusion, installing the latest Windows 10 updates, then installing Dropbox. No problems there. All works lovely.
4. Creating a native Windows 10 partition with Bootcamp, installing the latest Windows 10 updates, then installing Dropbox. No problems there. All works lovely.

So what does this mean???  It suggests to me that the problem is something to do with an "older" installation of Windows 10 and Dropbox. Pre what date I don't know but if I create a new Windows 10 VM or native Windows 10 machine and the problem goes away.

I'm completely stumped and to have to do a clean install of Windows for something like this seems rather drastic. My gut feeling is that there is an old registry key or keys lingering around somewhere on both my machines that's affecting the DPI scaling. 

I have been on support chats two or three since the problem started, never coming to a solution other than to use the workaround.

Is there any update whatsoever?

D

@damienbutt

Could you share your DPI workaround? I didn't find even workaround to get this working.

Provided all that Dropbox supported wanted and it's complete silence for months now...

1. Open Task Manager and kill the Dropbox processes.
2. Search for Dropbox in the start menu.
3. Select "Open file location".
4. Right-click the Dropbox app shortcut and select "Properties".
5. Select the "Compatibility" tab.
6. Select "Change high DPI settings".
7. In the "Program DPI" section, check the checkbox "Use this setting to fix scaling problems for this program instead of the one in Settings". Leave the dropdown option in that section set to "I signed in to Windows".
8. In the "High DPI scaling override" section, check the checkbox "Override high DPI scaling behaviour. Scaling performed by:" and then from the dropdown list select "System (Enhanced)".
9. Click OK.
10. Click Apply.
11. Click OK.
12. Restart Dropbox.

Dropbox will look a little blurry but it works and makes the app usable again. Hence why it's just a workaround. It just doesn't look as sharp as it should.

I'm reluctant to rebuild my VM from scratch for such a small issue. But it is bugging me. 

To be fair I also have the same issue with another app that runs from the System Tray. Jetbrains Toolbox. I've had to do the same workaround for that. Which perhaps suggests this is more of a Windows thing. I've done the same test with clean installs of Windows 10 etc and it also works fine, just as Dropbox just. 

I have no idea where the problem lies.

@Dropbox

Please can we get some support to troubleshoot this issue? 

Interestig. The DPI change doesn't have any effect on my dropbox. It still doesn't display evem after making the changes you suggest.

Hey damienbutt, thanks for joining the topic here!

For us to assist our specialists with looking into this issue, it would be helpful to gather some info with so that we can pass this along to them.

I've reached out to the email linked with your profile here, so please check your inbox when you have the chance if you'd like to.

Thanks!

 I just obtained a 4K monitor and I have exactly the same issue. I've used the Windows compatibility scaling options and it has fixed the issue--after a fashion.

The issue is that whenever I click the dropbox system tray icon, it pops up on my secondary monitor!

Hey there Skimble, I hope you're well today!

From your set up, is the monitor that the Dropbox icon opens in listed as your secondary monitor in your computers settings? If you were to change the monitors around, does the icon open in the other monitor?

Also, can you let me know which version of the desktop app you have installed?

Let me know - thanks!

Hiya, I have Dropbox version 95.3.425.

Here is my setup:

Left (primary) monitor, 4k resolution with 175% scaling.

Right (secondary) monitor, 1080p resolution without scaling.

They are in Extend mode.

Dropbox won't pop up on Left unless I set scaling to 100%, at which point everything is too tiny to use.

I overrode the scaling settings in the compatibility properties for Dropbox, and Dropbox window now pops up on the began popping up on the left hand side of my secondary monitor.

If I make the secondary monitor primary, the Dropbox once again does not appear when I click or right click on the taskbar icon. 

I just tried an experiment and made Windows think my monitors are the other way around (primary on the right and secondary on the left) while making no changes to the scaling options. With this setup, the Dropbox popup appears on the right side of the primary display the way it is supposed to.

See pictures here:

Thanks for those screenshots Skimble!

I noticed that you're using a beta version of the desktop app there, so just to rule out the possibility that this is causing the issue I'd suggest downgrading to the latest stable version of the app.

You can do this by toggling off the option for "Early releases" towards the bottom of your account settings page here. Then, you can download and install the latest stable version from here.

You don't need to uninstall prior to doing this or take any other action, just run the installer and it will take it from there.

Let me know if this helps!

Hi Daphne, 

As expected, no changes upon downgrading to the current stable version.

But, as an aside, my computer is now syncing 146k files and running like molasses in January, so thanks for that.

Thank you for trying that out Skimble!

The app would need to just do a re-index of the files within your account to cross-check for any updates, apologies for not mentioning that.

At this point, it would be best to continue looking into this through our Support channel so we can check out some device specific info alongside the info you've already kindly provided.

Please reach out to our Support team from here. A ticket number will be created once you do so (eg. #1234567), which you can let me know here and I'll be able to pass along all the info you've already given here.

Let me know if you have any questions about this!

Thanks Daphne . I've linked to this thread in my support request. The ticket number is #10509576

I've just passed along all the info you've provided here to your ticket Skimble.

If there's anything else that I can help with in the meantime, feel free to give me a nudge here.

Hope you have a great day!

I was contacting Support for a while and this is exactly what happened to me. But they don't even know...keeps asking me to try this, try that and didn't make any difference. I accepted the workaround suggested here by using compatbiltiy mode. The blury look does bug me though. Can't believe they haven't supported 4k monitor after amlost 2 years.