I need to copy (not move) a Dropbox folder to an external hard drive.

Hi dukeeastwood 

Sorry if I'm still missing something, but just a thought:

1. Use the steps I gave you to move the Dropbox folder, to a hard drive that can fit what you want to work with, i.e. 13 TB of data
2. Let the files download fully (make them "offline")
3. When it's done, sign out of the desktop app.

After you sign out from the app, you'll have all the content you made offline in one place that you chose, no duplicates, and no chance of anything being deleted in Dropbox.

Let me know what you find.

But THEN... those files are IN a dropbox app folder... I need them NOT in a dropbox app folder.

K which goes back to my orginal request... If I KNEW what folder the "offline" files were located I could access those directly... take THOSE and not deal with the app... but no one seems to know where that folder is. And the thing is... I KNOW I've used that method before... yet NO ONE , including you professional support people, seem to know where the folder with the offline downloads resides.

Hi dukeeastwood, the Dropbox folder itself is where the files are being downloaded to when you make files available offline. There isn't another 'offline file' location which is what you're expecting from your description.

If you're not sure of the location of your Dropbox folder, you can locate it using this method.

Once you've found the Dropbox folder, and that the files have a green syncing icon on them, you can copy the files to an external drive.

Why can't any of you see the problem with that?????????

That means those files exist IN a dropbox app folder... I can log out and move them... then if I log back in the app will sync with the app again... and I have seen ON THESE FORUMS that that results in files doing missing.  If I leave them in the folder... they are always in a dopey drop box folder.... this is infuriating!

Hi dukeeastwood,

The Dropbox folder is designed to be a two way portal for anything you want in your Dropbox account and on a computer.

If you copy from the Dropbox folder, you can set the original in the Dropbox folder to "Online", after, which would all but instantaneously stop it taking up any space.

Is the the end goal to have the entire Dropbox account copied onto an external hard drive, and be able to make changes on the external drive without deleting or changing anything in Dropbox? 

Signing out of the app will leave a Dropbox folder that can be moved, renamed, copied — all without any changes reflecting back to the account.

If you prefer to keep the app connected and keep using it to sync, you can set items to be ignored on the computer so changes made won't reflect to the web.

For more on how to do that, please check this out: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files

Let me know if that might help!

No no no... you continue NOT to listen... so here's yet ANOTHER problem...

if you online something and then copy and paste it... say 1 tb.... it STILL will take hours to paste that much data.... meanwhile if this app was designed by people with working BRAINS... the ability to download something INTO a location would save that time...

In all seriously... what is the phone number for dropbox offices?

I need to contact directly... I'm so sick of you people acting like what I'm saying doesn't make any sense.

I will fly to where you are and explain this to you if I have to.