Forum Discussion

Haliph's avatar
Haliph
New member | Level 2
1 month ago

Re: The Dropbox desktop app won't open on my Mac device

Application Affected
Dropbox
Device
Macbook Pro
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Mac 13.3
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
Cant Open App, Installed Latest Version Today

Question or Issue
Dropbox won't open the app, only the finder window. I can force it to open dropbox backup from the website but it doesnt appear to be backing up anything. I can see it running in activity monitor but not in force quit applications. Without automatic backups working and the access to the application there is no point in the service.

4 Replies

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  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    1 month ago
    Haliph wrote:

    Dropbox won't open the app, only the finder window.

    What icon are you clicking on? If Dropbox is already running and you click the icon to launch it, it opens the Dropbox folder in Finder. Make sure you're clicking on the small Dropbox icon located in your menu bar, near the clock, to open the app itself.

  • Haliph's avatar
    Haliph
    New member | Level 2
    1 month ago

    unfortunately there's no dropbox icon in the menu. I did figure out however that when I turn off NordVPN it works so something between the two is incompatible.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    1 month ago
    Haliph wrote:

    I did figure out however that when I turn off NordVPN it works so something between the two is incompatible.

    A quick search on Google gave a few results pointing to Nord's Threat Protection being the issue. You may need to add Dropbox to an allow list if you have Threat Protection turned on.

  • Haliph's avatar
    Haliph
    New member | Level 2
    1 month ago

    yeah my searches led me to turn off ad and tracker blocker. still unsure why dropbox wont backup though. they say "done" but are sitting at 0 bytes.

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