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Forum Discussion
katief
4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Duplicate Dropbox locations after update
The Dropbox accounts at our office updated last week and made a new Dropbox directory with all our files, but the old location and files still remain. The folders in the old location will sync to Dropbox when changed but do not have any of the Dropbox menu options (ie: Version History, Copy Dropbox Link, ect). How can I disconnect the old location when it's not recognized as connected?
Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Katie!
I'm glad that with Jay's help we were able to figure this out.
You can read more about symlinks and this hidden Dropbox folder and instructions on what to do, here.
22 Replies
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- Hannah4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey katief, thanks for letting us know about this.
Can you please click on the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar and then click on the folder icon next to your initials/profile pic?
This should open the actual Dropbox folder that is syncing to your account. Is that the old Dropbox folder?
If so, are the context menu items missing from all the files in the Dropbox folder or just from the backup (PC/Mac) folder for example? If you have enabled backup, that is.
Keep me posted.
- katief4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Thanks Hannah. When I open my Dropbox folder via the system tray, it opens to the new location. All the folders in the new location have the contextual menu items. We don't have any backup enabled.
Let me explain it this way maybe - We have location A, where the original Dropbox folder is located. Dropbox updated and created location B, with a new Dropbox folder. Both A and B are still syncing. A does not have the contextual menus, B does. There are two updating sets of every folder and file in our Dropbox account on my machine now.
- Hannah4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Thanks for the update here, Katie. This does sound super strange.
So, if you add a test file to the old Dropbox folder, does that file sync to your account? Do you see it when you go to dropbox.com?
- katief4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Yep! Any changes made in the old Dropbox folder (location A) is reflected online and in the new Dropbox folder (location B)
- Megan4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi katief, very interesting.
Can you take a screenshot of the folders by any chance and attach it here?
- katief4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
I tried to piece it together in a way that made sense, hope this helps.
- Hannah4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Thanks for the info and the screenshots, Katie!
I'm still a bit confused over the locations of each Dropbox folder.
Can you give me the exact folder paths for both the old and the new Dropbox folder?
Because the fact that the old folder is syncing, would only make sense if it's inside the new folder.
- katief4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Sure. The main Dropbox directory is
D:\DROPBOX, which contains the old and new Dropbox folders and nothing else
Location A path: "D:\DROPBOX\Dropbox (A)"
Location B path: "D:\DROPBOX\B Dropbox"It should be noted that the old folder (location A) has the "shortcut" icon on the folder, but the type is listed as a File Folder. You can see this in my earlier markup of the main Dropbox directory. As far as I can tell, it's not a shortcut, just seems odd.
Does that help clear things up?
- Jay4 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi katief, are you on a Dropbox Business team, and is the A and B wording the name of your team?
Is it possible that your team has switched to the new team space structure?
From the screenshot, Dropbox A appears to be greyed out and with an arrow on it, meaning it's a hidden symlink folder to the new location, which would be created to prevent issues with programs looking for the old location.
Could you right click then choose Properties for the Dropbox A folder, while hiding the team name, to confirm this?
- katief4 years agoExplorer | Level 3
I think that might be it! I've never heard of symlinks before today, but this looks to fit the bill. Is this something we need to keep in the Dropbox directory, or is it safe to remove?
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