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jcecchettini's avatar
jcecchettini
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago

Relink Dropbox files on external drive to a new computer

I have all of my Dropbox files on an external drive.  I am upgrading to a new computer, but I don't want to download all of my Dropbox content from the cloud - I just want Dropbox to recognize the ex...
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Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago

Hey jcecchettini, thanks for reaching out to our Community.

 

Will you be doing this on a Windows computer?

 

If so, what you'll need to do, is follow these steps:

 

1.Rename your existing Dropbox folder to "Dropbox (old)" or similar. 
2. During the installation, select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder. 
3. When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync, so pause syncing or exit Dropbox. 
4. Move only the content of "Dropbox (old)" into the newly created Dropbox folder. 

5. When the move is complete, and not before, resume syncing or re-launch Dropbox.

 

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.

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