Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Mirna D.
3 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Photo Library not reachable on macOS after Dropbox sync
Hello all,
I am running MaCos Ventura 13.1. I have both iCloud and Dropbox storage for my photos (call me paranoid if you like :-). I like the ability to select a photo from the photo library when ...
- 3 years ago
Hello everyone,
We have an update on this. This has occurred as Apple no longer allows Photos Library to be synced with cloud-storage services. You can find out more about this here in the Expected Changes article.
Regards,
Emmet
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years agoHi Mirna D., as it seems you're on the new version of Dropbox for Mac OS, Apple no longer allows Photos Library to be stored over cloud-storage services, so you'd need to move it to your local storage.
awgd
3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Hi there. I am also having this issue but the frustrating thing is that my photo library is not inside of dropbox. It's in its normal location on my system but it is being backed up to dropbox backup and sync. Can you please advise? I just upgraded to the new version of Dropbox for MacOS.
Upon digging around a bit further I see now (after I've updated to the new Dropbox app) that my Pictures folder is no longer in its normal location and is showing as a shortcut to Dropbox.
I will let the update re-index my files post-update (33,000 more to go!), restart my system, and see how it's looking then.
- awgd3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
All updated now. This is a pretty frustrating situation.
For some reason, the two user folders I'd been backing up to Dropbox are now located inside of Dropbox.
Previously they were MacintoshHD/Users/awalsh/Desktop and MacintoshHD/Users/awalsh/Desktop and now they are both shortcuts located in Dropbox/Mac/Desktop and Dropbox/Mac/Pictures.
Obviously, my Desktop and my Pictures folder shouldn't be located inside of Dropbox.
Should I manually move them back to where they belong?
Also, since the update, the folders in dropbox (not in the backup) are a real mixed back in terms of having cloud icons or not having cloud icons. Some have the little cloud with the arrow, some have the outline cloud without the arrow, some have no icon at all, and none of my previously offline files are designated as being offline.
- Megan3 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi awgd, I'd be more than happy to help!
In regards to the first issue you mentioned about your files backing up inside the Dropbox folder: it sounds like you might have accidentally enabled our Computer backup feature.
If you want to revert the content back to its original paths, all you'd need to do is disable the feature as mentioned here, can you give it a go?
In regards to the icons, that would be expected, you can see more about that here. As for your offline files, have you tried right-clicking on them, and making them available offline?
Does that work?
Let me know more!
- awgd3 years agoHelpful | Level 6Hi Megan,
Thanks for your quick response.
I had been using the computer backup feature leading up to when this update to the new version of Dropbox occured.
The problem is that the folders being backed up were also moved to the new cloud Dropbox folder.
When the update initiated it warned me that my Dropbox files would be moved to that new location and that I'd encounter some file linking issues. That was fine. I understood that loud and clear.
What I didn't expect was for the process to move my backed up folders too (in this case desktop and pictures).
Regardless of the severity of the issues caused by moving my desktop and my pictures folders, it seems like this is an error. It is an error, yes?
Was installing the new version of Dropbox supposed to move my backed up folders?
Shouldn't my Pictures and Desktop folders have stayed where they were (in my user folder) and continued the one-way upload to Dropbox?
Now those folders are behaving like standard Dropbox folders so they have the right click menu options. Actually now I'm not sure if all of my Desktop and Pictures files are offline because they're being treated like standard Dropbox files.
Heck, now when I go to delete a file on my desktop it asks me of I want to delete it from Dropbox too.
If it's not an error, and backed up folders move from their original locations in the user folder to the separate Dropbox folder, well, I'm really unhappy with this. It's not ok for Dropbox to relocate such important folders.
In regards to my icons, it's expected for them to be messed up and inconsistent? Before the update those icons worked perfectly. It was very clear which files were offline and which files were online only. There was even the immensely helpful outline checkmate icon which showed that there were some downloaded files somewhere within a folder. Now I have a random assortment of clouds with arrows, clouds without arrows, some green checks for files I manually made offline since the update, and quite a few files and folders without any icons at all. It's actually turned what was a workable system using Dropbox to manage my files and space, to a completely unworkable mess.
Anyway, I hope none of these issues are a reflection of the state of the new app and are hopefully fixable errors.
Hopefully by sharing my experience it can help others in the same boat.
About Apps and Installations
Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.
The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!