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How can I disable the status column on Windows?
Dear Madam/Sir,
I have a paid subscription of Dropbox and as a professional writer I use mainly Explorer and Microsoft Office with hundreds of different files and documents. I am orientated to the ...
Hi Alfred01,
Thanks for reaching out! The Status column is now managed by Windows as part of recent changes to file sync behavior, hence, Dropbox cannot disable it. If you'd like to learn more about these updates and how they affect Dropbox, check out this article: Expected changes with Dropbox for Windows update.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
There is a way to disable it. The status column takes up valuable real estate in file explorer, and we needed it gone (permanently). I contacted Dropbox directly and they sent me instructions.
Per Dropbox: if you don’t want to use the Dropbox for Windows update at this time, you can opt-out through your Advanced settings page. To do this:
1. Log out of the Dropbox desktop app.
2. Log back into the Dropbox desktop app.
3. Click Open Dropbox.
4. Make your selections on the onboarding screens.
5. When setup is finished, click Advanced settings from the final screen.
6. Click Opt out under Dropbox for Windows updates.
This will revert your Dropbox experience to the previous version WITHOUT the new status column in Windows File Explorer.
Note: To be safe and clean with file syncing, I recommend to fully uninstall the application. then, when you reinstall, go into advanced settings and "opt-out of the new Windows experience" BEFORE syncing.
worked for us. hope it works for you. we love dropbox! but hated that column.
This seems to be the solution, thank you!
I would like to know, however: does reverting to the old version and opting out for ‘Windows for Dropbox updates’, affect the way Dropbox is syncing or functioning? Does Dropbox in that case sync without the Windows API? And is there any risk to that?
The “Dropbox for Windows update” only affects the way the online-only feature (formerly known as Smart Sync) is implemented in Dropbox. Before the Cloud Files API was developed by Microsoft to be used by cloud storage providers, the online-only feature was implemented by Dropbox using a custom kernel module and is now reimplemented using the Cloud Files API.
So no, the syncing should not be affected in any way because Dropbox was already working just fine before the Cloud Files API became available.
Opting out of the "Dropbox for Windows update" is safe.
Hope this helps.
Andrew (DBoxTips)
P.S. I am a volunteer on the Dropbox forums, freely and happily sharing know-how with other users, not affiliated with Dropbox in any way.
