Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Lost access to Desktop folder on Mac when I downloaded Dropbox, and now can't access.
I've lost access to the Desktop, Documents and Downloads file on my mac - help??
I just set up a new Dropbox account with a different email. When it asked whether I wanted to sync/back-up Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, I said no, because when I did this with a previous account, this caused problems. I thought that this would mean that my Desktop files etc would just remain on my hard drive, and I would have a Dropbox folder with things I wanted to back up to the cloud.
I just set up a new Dropbox account with a different email. When it asked whether I wanted to sync/back-up Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, I said no, because when I did this with a previous account, this caused problems. I thought that this would mean that my Desktop files etc would just remain on my hard drive, and I would have a Dropbox folder with things I wanted to back up to the cloud.
But this has caused all the icons to disappear from my Desktop!
Luckily the files are still there when I search for them. When I got to Desktop folder in Finder and click on it, a message says 'The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “Desktop” can’t be found.'
Logging out of Dropbox didn't help.
Help???
44 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi TexAK, let's jump right into this!
First of all, it sounds like you enabled our Backup feature. The first thing we need to clarify, is whether Backup is still enabled on your end.
Can you try to access your Backup page online, and let me know what you see there? Also, when you visit your account online, are you able to see your desktop files?
Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!
Thank you. I did disable the Backup feature a couple days ago.
Do you want me to check with the web version of DB or the DB app on my Mac?
OK, when I go into my Dropbox icon on my desktop, I click on
Preferences,
then Backups,
then Manage backups,
and it shows no boxes checked.
I then Quit Dropbox and re-open it. I do the same procedures as above and NOW it shows there are checkmarks to Backup my Desktop, Documents, and Downloads...
why is it not disabling Backup???
- Megan
Hm, interesting TexAK!
Do you think you can attach a couple of screenshots of what you see when you access your Backup preferences on your device, and some of what you see when you visit your Backup page online?
Provided that Backup has been disabled, you should be able to move your Desktop content back to their original place. All you'd have to do would be to drag and drop them there.
When I click on "Manage Backups" on the Dropbox desktop app, this is what it shows. I have unchecked these boxes and saved them multiple times and it keeps coming up with the boxes checked the next time I go to it.
I don't see any backups on Dropbox and those files remain unchecked.
I copied all the files from Dropbox on to an external drive and I plan to simply disconnect this Mac from my dropbox account. I still have zero icons on my Desktop and looking in Finder, all the Desktop files are dropbox icons.
Well, this has been quite a journey! Apparently, Dropbox took over everything on my Desktop and I did not know it. So, I eventually disconnected my Laptop from Dropbox, saved all my files from Dropbox onto an external storage stick, and then had to create an entirely new User on my MacBook and move those files into that new Desktop individually.
When I tried to move those same files to the old User Desktop, everything still pointed to a Dropbox Folder and my Desktop folder was just an Alias...So, I've now got all my files residing on my Laptop HD and they are backed up to iCloud Drive -- but the files reside on my Laptop.
I will be discontinuing Dropbox as soon as I can figure out how to get one other Application to stop backing up there.
