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Re: Dropbox Apple Silicon (M1) install
I get that Dropbox does not support Apple Silicon Macs AKA M1 Macs. Is there any list of what works and what doesn't work? I reorganized some folders on my MacBook Pro M1 and those changes just don't sync, meaning they don't show up when I log into dropbox.com and they don't show up on my old MBP.
Some people seem to be able to open the Dropbox desktop app using Rosetta, but I can't open it at all.
I had been accessing my DB folders through Finder, but if syncing is hit or miss, I'm concerned I'm going to lose or damage critical files.
Any idea what is safe?
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey xmarc999, thanks for posting on our Community.
At the moment, indeed, the Dropbox app should work with Rosetta. Are you having this issue while using it that way?
Do you have a Dropbox icon in your menu bar, that can give us some info on the sync status of the app?
Are you perhaps getting any error messages?
Keep me posted! In researching this further, a lot came up.
First, my setup: macOS Monterey
Version 12.1
MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021)
Chip Apple M1 Max
Memory 32 GBDespite being in my Login Items, Dropbox was not consistently starting at boot. Re-booted into Safe Mode and manually started Dropbox. *Now* I got a login window. So likely was not fully logged in before for whatever reason. Logged in. Went through System Preferences and made sure Dropbox had all the access it needed (at least one access was turned off in Security and Privacy). Restarted in normal mode.
Dropbox icon in menu bar now badged with numbers. Status shows several thousand updates pending (!). Let it sync.
Logged into Dropbox via web. Online view now shows updated files and folder organization.
So it looks like DB was in some odd state which was causing problems at startup. Everything now seems to work as I need it.
Thanks for pinging me on this.
Look into StrongSync from ExpanDrive. It seems to work fine on my new Apple silicon MacBook Pro Max. Just installed it a few days ago. Access to DropBox is a little different through StrongSync, but it gets me there.
Thanks for the tip, Jericho. I think using Migration Assistant to move over from Big Sur/Intel to Monterey/Apple Silicon did not do justice to DB. If I had it to do over again, I think I would have deleted DB completely and reinstalled it.
Kudos to StrongSync for being the first to implement Apple's File Provider extension. And for their new support for DB. Having said that, I'm not fully sure what its functions are. I'll have to look into it; I have started to look into Expandrive also
- I am under the impression that ExpanDrive does not work with Apple silicon.
is there a way to download the M! version rather than the default version and changing the setting for early release?
It looks like the early release of Apple Silicon DB is available now.
https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/apple-silicon-support
- Walter
Hi all - I just dropped by to let you know that, starting today, native Apple silicon support will begin automatically rolling out, with availability to all users in the coming weeks.
While this rollout is in progress, users can receive immediate access to native support by opting in to our early releases. For more information, you can visit this Help Center article.
- Emmet
Community Manager
Hi all,
Native Apple silicon support is now fully available. All users with Apple silicon devices will receive the native version of Dropbox automatically. If you would like to update your device manually, you can do so by clicking on the latest Stable Build and downloading the Offline Installer (Apple Silicon) file. For more information, visit the Dropbox Help Center.If you need assistance with anything else, please feel free to create a new thread and our community team will be happy to assist.
I just purchased a new iMac M1 and tried to install Dropbox 140.3.1903 but can't get it to run. When I login I get a message that says i'm using an old version of DB and need to get the latest version, which I actually did already. Under the Dropbox icon it says that it's waiting to be linked to a dropbox account...
When I go to Sync Preferences>Account I again try to sign in and just get a spinning wheel. Nothing works!!! What can I do, Am I doing something wrong?
cuddy58 wrote:I just purchased a new iMac M1 and tried to install Dropbox 140.3.1903 but can't get it to run. When I login I get a message that says i'm using an old version of DB and need to get the latest version, which I actually did already. Under the Dropbox icon it says that it's waiting to be linked to a dropbox account...
When I go to Sync Preferences>Account I again try to sign in and just get a spinning wheel. Nothing works!!! What can I do, Am I doing something wrong?
The latest stable build is 159.4.5870 AFAIK
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-desktop-client-builds/Stable-Build-159-4-5870/td-p/628595Thank you so, so much! I don't know why Dropbox has links to old installers. I couldn't find this latest version anywhere.
- Shame you don’t have a working app for the M2 max and continue to post bs advice that doesn’t work
There is NO “within folder” spotlight search functionality with the latest dropbox on an M2 max. Spotlight indexes everything but can not search within - it can only find files by search entire HD - so you lose ALL folder/project specific search capabilities
None of the bs advice dropbox give, so far, works - it just wastes days of your time re-indexing.
