Should I upgrade to File Provider on my second Mac?

Thank you very much. Very helpful.

All of my files are in HD/Users/Norm/Dropbox

So if I like where my files are located in the Finder, I should not use File Provider on my new computer. Correct?

If correct, the install selected File Provider but provided a link to opt out. I assume that is not a problem to do so?

And for the paranoid, as I add my new travel Mac to Dropbox is there any possibility that one can lose their Dropbox files?

Thanks again.

That's correct, it's better not to upgrade if you like where the files are currently located in Finder.

The link to opt out should work fine the way you described, or you can follow these steps as well.

Regarding losing files on your Dropbox account, there is always a possibility that one can lose their files, since the Dropbox folder is just like any other folder on your computer.

However, you should be able to recover them within your version history, provided that they weren't permanently deleted from your account.

Thanks. Now I have it where I like it. :-) 

However, in my Finder under Locations there is another Dropbox (with the Dropbox icon) and when I open it is like the Dropbox Folder but all the enclosed folders have little cloud icons. Does that make sense?

Thanks again.

And I'm now finding that some of my Spotlight searches will go to that Folder and if I try to open documents it says they are missing. Very strange and confusing.

Appreciate any advice. Thank you.

norm3 wrote:

if I try to open documents it says they are missing

Open the folder directly from Finder and see if the files are Available Offline. If not they need making offline. Dropbox should auto-download them as long as its running, but, sometimes struggles if they are big before the search auto open times out. 

There seem to be 2 Dropbox Folders. One is where I want it and all is working well.

But there is another one. Not sure if it is a Dropbox Folder or something else. The only way I get to it is by making Cloud Storage visible under Locations in the Finder sidebar. That Dropbox has the Dropbox icon and all of the enclosed folders have the little cloud icon. 

Very confusing to me but probably makes sense to you experts.

Perhaps it is the result of the original install on this new computer when Dropbox defaulted to File Provider and then I switched back.

Sometimes I will get a find result using Spotlight to this "folder" and the folder or file won't open.

Thanks for any info.

Hey norm3, happy Monday!

Can you check the "sync" tab in the Dropbox application preferences, to see the location of the Dropbox folder the app is linked to? Is it the one in CloudStorage?

Hannah:

Happy Monday. Thanks.

In Preferences Sync under Dropbox folder location it shows where I want it: /Users/norm/Dropbox

However if I do a Spotlight search for a folder or doc and I select Dropbox I get what I think I should get but if I change the search tab to This Mac then many of the finds are duplicated. Strange.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks for the details. In order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.