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Forum Discussion
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 name of my files and documents, and therefore I don't want to see any other information, as it is very distracting and useless (for me) as well. Therefore, I choose in Explorer and Office for 'List View'. Since the latest Dropbox-update, however, a "status column" drops up and I cannot get rid of it. Please make it possible to disable this column or tell me where in the registry of Windows 10 I can change this setting permanently.
Thank you very much in advance,
Alfred van Cleef
7 Replies
- Rich
Super User II
The Status column is now managed by Windows as part of recent changes to file sync behavior, hence, Dropbox cannot disable it.
Dropbox cannot disable it, but it can still be hidden through the options in Explorer. Just right-click the column header and deselect it.
vladgasanDropbox Product Manager
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!
Hi Vladgasan,
Thanks for your kind reply.
I know that the Status column is a Windows feature. In Windows Explorer, however, you can choose for ‘List View’, which means that just the names of the files are visible and no columns at all. Bot somewhere Dropbox forces Explorer to show the Status column behind the file name, no matter which view is selected.
Dropbox also affects the way to deselect the Status option in Detailed view, because after deselecting the Status column comes back immediately.
These changes are caused by Dropbox, not by Windows. So, my question is: where in the system does Dropbox store the commands to overrule any chosen Explorer setting by a Status Column with the Dropbox sync icons?
- Rich
Bot somewhere Dropbox forces Explorer to show the Status column behind the file name, no matter which view is selected.
If you're referring to the sync status icon, this is controlled by Windows, not Dropbox, and is one of the requirements of Microsoft's Cloud Files API. Dropbox cannot control this.
Dropbox also affects the way to deselect the Status option in Detailed view, because after deselecting the Status column comes back immediately.
This doesn't appear to be accurate. The method used to deselect the column in the Details view has remained the same; right-click any column header and uncheck the desired column name to hide it. I've disabled the Status column on multiple computers and it hasn't come back. Again, Dropbox has no control over which columns are visible in Details view.
- Rich
Therefore, I choose in Explorer and Office for 'List View'. Since the latest Dropbox-update, however, a "status column" drops up and I cannot get rid of it.
The Status column in Explorer is a feature of Windows, not Dropbox. You can customize the columns that are visible by right-clicking on them and selecting or deselecting the columns of your choice.
