The app prompts me to sign-in and create a new Dropbox folder.

Hi hrallergynk, thanks for posting today!

It sounds like you're using a Windows device. Would you be able to clarify the exact version of your OS, please? 

Also which Dropbox desktop app version are you currently running? You should be able to hover your mouse over the little Dropbox icon on your taskbar, next to your WiFi and see a series of numbers there. 

Lastly, have you made sure that you've installed the app with admin privileges as mentioned here?

Let me know more! 

Hi Megan. Windows 10 Pro. Cannot tell you the Dropbox version - not logged in for reasons described in the original post. For some reason Dropbox does not start with the windows launch but I would assume that it is the latest version because it was reinstalled, it seems

I was logged in as admin 

Hey hrallergynk​, let's try something! 

When you're prompted to sign in, and before clicking the option to create a new Dropbox folder, do you see the “Advanced Settings” link on your screen?

If you click there, you should be able to select the parent folder of your already established Dropbox folder (instead of creating a new one and syncing everything from the start). For example, if you have your Dropbox folder in the path "D:\OtherDrive\Folder\Dropbox", you'll want to select the folder "D:\OtherDrive\Folder".

Can you check if you have that option?

Hi, it's syncing files. Something I was hoping to avoid. Also, is there anything I can do to prevent it from happening again? 

I did have that option. It did not do anything productive: Dropbox is currently syncing files. Something I was trying to avoid - all files were already there. Is there anything I can do to prevent Dropbox from logging me out and losing the connection to the files?

hrallergynk wrote:

Dropbox is currently syncing files. Something I was trying to avoid - all files were already there.

The sync is unavoidable. Even if it's using the same Dropbox folder as before and all of your files are there, it still needs to reindex all of those files to rebuild the database that Dropbox uses to keep track of your files. A reindex will sometimes look like it's uploading and downloading files, but it's just transferring the comparison data along with any changes it finds.

If it's not reusing the same Dropbox folder, then it's performing a full sync and it's downloading all of your data again.

Hello,

It's doing it again! Prompted to sign-in and the rest as above. What do I need to do to prevent this from happening again? Please advise

Sorry to hear that, hrallergynk. Did the Dropbox app ask you to sign back in, after you tried to open your files again? Or did you take another action on your computer, right before this happened? 

Feel free to send me a screenshot of the prompt you keep receiving, as well, and of any errors you see when opening your files (if that's possible).

I came to the office this morning, Dropbox prompt appeared immediately after the logging into Windows. The files in my local Dropbox folder (any format) cannot be opened - error saying that the .pdf file cannot be opened by Acrobat. that applies to all file formats.

I see, thanks for clarifying that. Do you remember what was the sync status of those files, while you were signed in to the Dropbox app? Meaning, were they online-only or available offline?