Fix: Dropbox Finder Extension (Smart Sync / Right-Click Menu) Permanently Disabled on macOS

Hey all, I've been beating my head against the wall for a week now trying to figure out why my Dropbox Finder extension wasn't working. I don't have File Provider and really didn't want to set it up, plus I'm apparently not a candidate.

I'm not sure exactly what caused this state. It was either a recent update or some aborted FileProvider migration. What I do know after much troubleshooting (thanks Claude Code, who wrote the breakdown below which I edited) is what the broken state looks like and how to fix it.

Follow these instructions at your own peril.

The Problem

The Dropbox Finder extension stops working and can't be re-enabled:

No sync status badges (green checkmarks, blue sync icons) in Finder
No right-click context menu options ("Make Available Offline", "Make Online Only", "Copy Dropbox Link", etc.)
Smart Sync is unusable — you can't toggle files/folders between online-only and local
The extension toggle in System Settings > Login Items & Extensions keeps turning itself off immediately after you enable it
Running pluginkit -e use -i com.getdropbox.dropbox.garcon (even with sudo) doesn't stick
Reinstalling Dropbox doesn't fix it
You may also see "Dropbox Finder Extension" listed as a File Provider extension in System Settings, which is wrong — it should be a Finder Sync extension

The Broken State

A ghost FileProvider domain registration gets stuck in ~/Library/Application Support/FileProvider/. You can confirm this is your issue:

# Check if garcon is disabled
pluginkit -mDAD -p com.apple.FinderSync 2>/dev/null | grep dropbox
# Shows: -    com.getdropbox.dropbox.garcon  (the - means disabled)

# Check if a ghost FileProvider domain exists
plutil -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/FileProvider/com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider/Domains.plist 2>/dev/null

If the Domains.plist exists and shows something like:

"Disconnected" => true
"DisconnectionReason" => "This is an unlinked Dropbox"
"Path" => "FPFS_SHOULD_NOT_BE_USED"
"Enabled" => true

...then you have a ghost domain. It's registered and "Enabled" but completely non-functional.

What this causes: When Dropbox starts, it sees a FileProvider domain is registered and enabled. It assumes FileProvider is handling Finder integration, so it deliberately disables garcon (the Finder Sync extension). But the FileProvider domain is broken/disconnected, so neither system works. You get no Finder integration at all.

Why reinstalling doesn't fix it: This directory is managed by macOS, not by Dropbox. Uninstalling and reinstalling Dropbox — even Dropbox's "advanced reinstall" that removes ~/.dropbox, ~/Library/DropboxHelperTools, etc. — does not touch this directory. The ghost domain persists, and the next Dropbox install sees it and disables garcon again.

You may also see ghost mounts appearing in ~/Library/CloudStorage/ (e.g., Dropbox-YourTeam or conflicted copies with timestamps in the name). These reappear even after deletion because the FileProvider domain is still registered.

The Fix

Make sure Dropbox is completely quit before starting.

# 1. Quit Dropbox
osascript -e 'tell application "Dropbox" to quit' 2>/dev/null
sleep 2
pkill -f Dropbox
sleep 2

# 2. Remove the ghost FileProvider domain registration
#    This is the key step that a normal reinstall misses
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/FileProvider/com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider/

# 3. Kill the FileProvider daemon so macOS picks up the change
sudo killall fileproviderd

# 4. Disable the FileProvider plugin, enable garcon
sudo pluginkit -e ignore -i com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider
sudo pluginkit -e use -i com.getdropbox.dropbox.garcon

# 5. Optionally clean up ghost CloudStorage mounts
#    (replace "Dropbox-YourTeam" with your actual mount name)
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox-YourTeam*/

# 6. Start Dropbox
open /Applications/Dropbox.app

Verify after ~30 seconds:

pluginkit -mDAD 2>/dev/null | grep dropbox

Expected output:

+    com.getdropbox.dropbox.garcon(...)        # + means ENABLED
-    com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider(...)  # - means disabled (what we want)
+    com.getdropbox.dropbox.TransferExtension(...)

Your right-click Smart Sync options and sync badges should be back, and should survive Dropbox restarts.

How We Figured This Out

I had Claude compare the plugin state between two Macs — one where Dropbox Finder integration worked and one where it didn't:

Working Mac: garcon + (enabled), fileprovider registered but not active, no FileProvider domain in Application Support, no CloudStorage ghost mounts
Broken Mac: garcon - (disabled), fileprovider + (active), FileProvider domain present showing "Disconnected" and "unlinked Dropbox", ghost CloudStorage mounts that kept reappearing

The working Mac had Dropbox syncing to an external drive, where FileProvider can't operate. So no FileProvider domain was ever created, and garcon worked fine.

The broken Mac had Dropbox on the internal drive, and at some point a FileProvider domain was registered. Even though it was in a broken/disconnected state, its mere existence caused Dropbox to disable garcon on every startup.

Removing the ghost domain registration was the fix. This is something a normal Dropbox reinstall (or even Dropbox's "advanced reinstall") does not do.

Notes

This keeps Dropbox in "legacy" mode (syncing to a folder in your home directory rather than through ~/Library/CloudStorage/). This is preferable for workflows that need files to stay reliably local — for example, video editing with Premiere Pro, where FileProvider can silently evict media files and cause "media offline" errors.
If Dropbox attempts another FileProvider migration in the future, the ghost domain could return. If garcon stops working again, check ~/Library/Application Support/FileProvider/com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider/ first.
Tested on macOS Tahoe 26.x with Dropbox Business v244.4.6580 on Apple Silicon, but the issue isn't version-specific — the ghost domain mechanism has been the same since macOS introduced FileProvider.