Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users

UKD ufff.... sounds like it will also be an uphill battle with Sync.com then.

If you could please test if you share an InDesign session, with the assets correctly on the same folder, to someone that does not have Sync.com, can they work on it? Just " sharing a link to a folder and they can upload and download files if you give them access" wont be enough for audio and video editors. 

Also, (if you have time) can you explain why the duck can Sync.com allow external drives and Dropbox can't? 

Thanks!

fjazzfjazz I can't test an external user on an indesign file because of copyright and protection for our clients. I have to be super careful in that and external partners.

Do you mean if someone can be on the file at the same time as you? If yes then Indesign never allowed that itself anyway. Dropbox treats the file as an individual file once stored locally and is therefore a local file. Now if you were working on that file on your machine and saved your file and someone else was working on their file at the same time as you but saved after you, then their version would overwrite yours. There's no joint working on files that I am aware off.

And I presume Dropbox cannot be bothered to do it and are just saying it's Apple's fault. Maybe there's higher encryption in theirs, maybe they use Apples API and haven't created their own. Maybe it's because they've turned themselves in to a bloatware company with all these new and amazing features that nobody f*****g wants. Who knows, but I am pretty sure they do not give a flying f*** about us customers.

fjazzfjazz UKD I’m going out in a limb here because I rarely use Dropbox for file sharing or collaboration, and don’t think that’s going to change if I migrate. But from what I see in the “getting started” instructions, your collaborators will need to use Sync as well, and — while it’s conceivable that two different storage providers could create a joint-use framework — I don’t see much incentive for this to happen in the real world. For one thing, the engineers at Sync have created a true “Trust No One” environment, with real end-to-end encryption that only YOU have the keys to unlock. At Dropbox, the company’s engineers have keys as well, and I won;t go any further down that rabbit-hole. So you’re going to need to keep at least a minimum paid Dropbox account unless you can persuade all your coworkers to switch.

Very helpful, thanks ArthurPix ArthurPix

Dropbox needs to get on implementing this feature ASAP.

As of 2023, with newer versions of MacOS 12+, it's not longer possible to store dropbox mirrored files on a separate disk!
It's insane, on the web, there are sooooo many of us using external drives that can match the capacity of the DB account.

When will this implement?
I've been using DB for a long time, but I'm looking now elsewhere for a different could provider, as this is a deal-breaker functionality that needs to be there for

recent OSX Mac users. Scout the web, and there are a gazillion of frustrated and angry users.

I just got a new mac mini, and sadly found out that I cannot move the dropbox folder elsewhere.
And using the "sync" only feature ain't cutting it for me. 

Doesn't work. Only the alias file itself gets synced.
Same thing for a symlink.

I am currently running Mac OS 13.2.1 and Dropbox version 163.4.5456 and it's working fine with my external drive. Which OS update has disabled moving the files to an external? I got asked to update my Dropbox app but I keep saying NO for now. Not sure how long before it just updates it automatically and tries to move all my files to my startup disk which has very little room left.

mymgraphics you can see the upcoming changes here: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

But here's the main one everyone is moaning about:

• Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS. 

This we know is not true and is a "Dropbox is unable to support external drives". The reason we know it's not true is that there are other cloud based file sharing companies that do allow you to change the location of their folder in the new macOS 12.3+. I am looking at one right now (sync.com) and test bedding it.

dbox_  you could at last clarify the language below:

But here's the main one everyone is moaning about:

• Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS. 

This we know is not true and is a "Dropbox is unable to support external drives". The reason we know it's not true is that there are other cloud based file sharing companies that do allow you to change the location of their folder in the new macOS 12.3+. I am looking at one right now (sync.com) and test bedding it.