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I can't activate File Provider on my Dropbox desktop application on Mac OS 15.1
I'm trying to debug a problem a user of my macOS application has, where it won't read files on an external drive handled by Dropbox. The files are in `~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/`, which I assume means that she is using Dropbox with file provider support.
I'm not a Dropbox user myself, but I'm trying to replicate her setup in order to investigate the problem, so I've downloaded the Dropbox app and signed up for a free trial. However, when I try to activate File Provider support, it says “You are not eligible for the new Dropbox for macOS on File Provider at this time,” without giving a reason. This is on a 2020 M1 MacBook Air with Sequoia 15.1.
Does anyone know a way to get around this? And even better, does anyone have an idea why my app sometimes is unable to read her file?
Hi Petter123, sorry for jumping in. Can you clarify what’s your Dropbox folder’s current location on your local disk (as shown under the Sync tab of your app preferences)? Can you walk me through the steps you took to move your Dropbox folder over your local device?
As for supporting Dropbox for macOS on File Provider on an external drive, this is currently still in beta, so it may not be available to everyone, even if you fulfill the requirements (as outlined at the top of this Help Center article).
Feel free to install the Dropbox beta version though on your computer, as this may help.
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I've tried setting my Dropbox folder to different locations (on my local disk), but I kept getting the same response. Where does it need to be for File Provider support to work?
The user making the bug report apparently has her files on an external HDD, though, so that is the setup I would need in order to test this properly.
- Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
In order for us to assist that user, since each device and account is different, we would need them to contact us directly. Are they able to contact the Dropbox support team?
Sure, that might help them, but what I want to do right now on my end is to try to replicate the user's setup, to see if I might reproduce the issue. And for that I would need to upgrade to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider.
(EDIT: Also, the user reported that the files worked fine in other, similar applications, so apparently my app does something unusual that triggers the issue, and I'd like to find out what that is.)
Now I've set my Dropbox folder to an external APFS (encrypted) drive (Volumes/Extern/Dropbox/). I still get the “You are not eligible for the new Dropbox for macOS on File Provider at this time.” Is there anything I can do about this?
Would it help if I upgraded to a paid account? I don't mind doing that, but it would be kind of annoying if I did, and then still wasn't eligible for "the new Dropbox for macOS on File Provider."
- Jay
You can read up move about opting into the File Provider version of the Dropbox desktop application in this article.
If you're not eligible as of yet, then it wouldn't be possible to upgrade to that version. Upgrading to a paid plan wouldn't affect this eligibility either.
I linked to that article in my original post. It would be nice with any kind of explanation of why I'm not eligible.
- Nancy
Hi Petter123, sorry for jumping in. Can you clarify what’s your Dropbox folder’s current location on your local disk (as shown under the Sync tab of your app preferences)? Can you walk me through the steps you took to move your Dropbox folder over your local device?
As for supporting Dropbox for macOS on File Provider on an external drive, this is currently still in beta, so it may not be available to everyone, even if you fulfill the requirements (as outlined at the top of this Help Center article).
Feel free to install the Dropbox beta version though on your computer, as this may help.
Thanks for replying. I missed this, as I was trying to replicate the bug report using Google Drive instead, with some success. I'll see if I can get the beta version installed, and whether that helps.
