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New version of Dropbox completely broken, need to revert to previous version.
I got a new MacBook Air 15". Used Migration Assistant. Something updated Dropbox. Everything is broken.
Specifically:
* The Dropbox.app application when launched does not open the app, but op...
I guess I can now add my name to the list of users on macOS that have a broken Dropbox app. It has been working flawlessly for me for years, but today it won't even launch on my computer. In case it helps with the investigation, the problem was first noticed today (June 15, 2023) at around 3:30PM EST.
I am experiencing similar symptoms on MacOS that began with an update pushed at ~1PM PST; the app version is 178.2.762 according to app bundle information. I can likewise say this is the first non-functional Dropbox update in all the time that I've used it.
I cannot start Dropbox at all; Activity Monitor shows the the app has launched, but the icon doesn't appear in the menu bar, and the it quits a minute or so later (as verified with Activity Monitor). Hence, I cannot access the preferences for the app at all, and I confirmed that files are not being synced, even when the Dropbox processes are running.
I am running MacOS 12.6.7, build 21G708. Console.app shows a number of errors related to Dropbox when it launches, but I can't tell which are relevant to this issue. MacOS doesn't create a spindump for this issue as far as I can tell.
My issue seems to be fixed with a new Dropbox version: for me, the new, working version is 178.2.763. I did a standard install of the app, and it auto-updated several times until it finally installed that version
Well, it's tough to say for certain, because the following "Can't update Dropbox right now" error message was waiting for me this morning:
I don't know if that means the app was trying to update itself and couldn't or something had gone wrong with the update/sync of the files in their new location. The app is still at 177.3.5390, and from frralt's comment it's clear they've released later versions.
However, 1) the Dropbox menu is still present, 2) it claims "Your files are up to date", 3) it says there are no sync issues, and 4) I still have the right amount of free space on my hard drive. I also checked recent activity and see that files I updated on a different Mac late last night have been updated on this Mac. So I cautiously think the problem is resolved. I'm going to turn on automatic app updating again and see if I can coax it to update to 178.2.763 or higher, and hope this really is fixed.
So in quick summary, what I think fixed the problem was:
* Quit Dropbox
* Trash ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
* Move ~/Dropbox into ~/Library/CloudStorage/
* Re-launch Dropbox
* Select and enable the Sync option to turn on "the updated Dropbox for macOS on File Provider"
* Wait for the sync to complete
And to make one's Dropbox easily accessible from the Finder and in Open/Save dialogs, create a symbolic link from the new CloudStorage location to its original location, such as:
ln -s ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox ~/Dropbox
That seemed to restore reasonably normal functionality.
Note: It's possible most of my problems were caused by a bad intermediate release of Dropbox (177.3.5390), given frralt's comment, but that symbolic link would be a lifesaver for me even if the folder move and sync had taken place smoothly.
larryy: I'm not entirely sure, but I believe version 178.x is the current beta version. You might have luck updating to that version if you enable "Early Releases" from Account -> Settings -> General in the Dropbox web interface. The usual caveats about beta software apply, however.
Despite the version differences, I posted on this topic, because the common symptoms and timing seemed to me unlikely to be a coincidence (see also the timing described in jffgrffn 's post). My speculation -- and it is speculation -- is that both the release and beta branches had a common security bug (or something) that was patched at roughly the same time, so both were similarly affected. However, it is entirely possible that we experienced entirely different issues that merely had similar symptoms.
In any case, it's great that we all seem to have a functional Dropbox again!
