Dropbox support for MacOS 12.3 - can we finally upgrade?

[paul20]

Hi, I cannot find anywhere anyone saying that Dropbox properly supports MacOS 12.3, even though it was released weeks ago and has now been superseded by 12.3.1 with zero-day fixes.  I can find discussion of this question in the past, and I can find several users having significant problems with 12.3 as recently as this morning (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/High-CPU-Usage-after-updating-MacBook-...), but not anywhere where Dropbox can say that 12.3 is actually supported.  As of 3 weeks ago, the most that was said was that it was not fully supported yet.  Since then there has been a conspicuous silence.  (The issue, of course, is that Apple finally completely banned the file system extension Dropbox was using, per what they had been promising for years.)

Is 12.3 officially supported?  What are the limitations associated with running Dropbox in 12.3, if any?

[Jtaylor2d]

Box has had major issues with Apple's new FPE extension, which is probably why Dropobox has kicked the can on this for so long. Still doesn't excuse their lack of transparency and information.

[BlastCreative]

Let me know where you go. Cloud storage simply sent up or down / auto download / opening files not downloaded. Well displayed difference between local or cloud files. Security and no snooping of my files.

That’s it. Then goodbye. Because even though I have the beta and it seems ok - it is clear Apple users are not really a concern.

[BlastCreative]

Box when I’ve used it has been really slow and temperamental.

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

In case you have not seen the update on the availability of full support for macOS 12.5 and higher, we’re continuing to expand our rollout through May 2023, and anyone interested in receiving this updated experience earlier can join our beta now.

When you’re eligible, you’ll receive a notification from the Dropbox icon in your menu bar. In most cases, you can expect to receive the updated version of Dropbox for macOS by the end of May 2023. 

Here’s how you can join our beta:

• Basic, Plus, Professional, and Family plan customers: Turn on early releases and keep an eye out for a notification to opt-in
• Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, and Education customers: Contact your Account Team or Customer Support for more information

The updated experience is more integrated with macOS and comes with some changes that are consistent with macOS requirements. For more information, please visit our Help Center.

Thank you.

[UKD]

I saw this but I still have a query in that is this update only for 12.5 and above or will it also work on OSes thaf haven’t been updated?

As in, do we have to update the OS and then Dropbox will give us a notification or will we get updated on the app even if we haven’t updated the OS.

I can’t get a straight answer out of Dropbox on this!

I don’t want to update my OS and then have to wait months for the update from Dropbox, especially as the notification will come through when they’re ready.

Also it would be really helpful if they gave us a build no so we know when it’s all done / we know we’re on the right version.

[Jay]

Hi @UKD, your device must be running macOS 12.5 or later to use Dropbox for macOS. 

When your account is eligible during the rollout, then you'll receive the notification about the new version of the app.

[UKD]

@Jay so basically you want us to upgrade to 12.5, and then have the risk of possibly not being able to upgrade because the rollout is going to take several months. Even if we are on the beta programme, there's still no guarantee that we'll be notified to update Dropbox immediately which then leaves us with possibly having to manually download files one by one rather than auto-downloading that can be done now.

Seriously, what are you guys smoking there? You want your clients to take the risk of everything not working because of your own problems. I don't see an advantage here for your customers, you know, the ones that pay for this service.

[Tirion2K22]

@UKD I'm pretty sure but I certainly hope the dropbox developers are smart enough to make it so that there's just one build for all macOS users. 
If you're on 12.4 or lower it'll use the current non-updated system, if you're on 12.5 or higher it will notify you that you can update your Dropbox for macOS which then moves your dropbox folder etc etc. 

What plan are you on? I'm currently on a business advanced plan so I'm guessing I'll be among the last users to receive it (business customers usually last for safety). I'll surely comment here once I've received it as I updated without knowing so I've been manually putting files to offline for a long time already haha

[UKD]

@Tirion2K22  I too am on Business Advanced so same as you, probably the last one to be notified.

Because I run a design company we have a bazillion of files linked all over the place. That's why Dropbox has always worked well for us, especially the auto-download feature. We have over the last year been collating links in to project folders but we are constantly going back to old projects. That's been my major frustration with this whole process of the update. Without the auto-download feature we could spend several hours hunting links and downloading them one by one, and as a business, time is money.

This whole update has left a nasty taste in my mouth. I do have 1 machine running macOS 13.X and that has not received an update even though we are signed up for the beta programme. To me this has been a disaster both as a company for Dropbox and most certainly for a PR exercise with their decision to literally bury their head in the sand and ignore customers.

Add to the fact I have 40TB of data on Dropbox (and backed-up offline too) moving is not a simple process sadly.

[BeeZeeAlta]

Hope this helps some folks. I eventually heard back from Dropbox support and working with a colleague figured out how to open Incopy Files from Dropbox while running MacOS 13.0 (Ventura). Instructions that we shared with our co-workers below-- we're a quarterly publication:

Here’s how to open InCopy files from Dropbox if using a current,up-to-date version of MacOS.
NOTE: If you’re currently opening InCopy files with an old MacOS, say version 12, you may want to keep doing it that way. But for those running, say 13.0, try this:

First, if you have signed up for beta versions of Dropbox, turn that off! That's from Dropbox support and contradicts their messaging but whatever, just do it.

Second, you’ll need to install the latest stable version of the Dropbox desktop application.

For these two tasks, you will need to follow these steps to verify that you have opted out of “Include me in early releases” option in your settings on Dropbox.com. This will ensure that the application does not automatically update to the beta build after you install the latest stable build:

1. Log in to www.Dropbox.com using your web browser.
2. Click on you account picture/avatar at the top right corner of the page.
3. Click on “Settings”.
4. From the “General” tab, scroll down to the section titled “Preferences” and uncheck the box next to “Include me in early releases” if it is checked.

Then, use the following link to install the latest stable version of the Dropbox desktop application: https://www.dropbox.com/download

Once you install the stable build, it might take some time to re-index the files and sync any pending changes.

THEN:
The Incopy files MUST be opened from Dropbox desktop app (use the icon in the menu bar, not the InCopy pulldown menu).

1. Using Dropbox icon (again not Incopy), open the Incopy story folder.
2. Locate the assignment folder. It will be labeled [story slug]_issue 23 Assignments.
3. Open the content folder and click on each of the .icml files to open them. There may be many of them.
4. Once all the .icml files are displayed in Incopy, close the files by clicking the small “x” on each of them.
5. Then go back to the Dropbox icon/window and open the Assignment 1.icma file. Click to open it. You now should see all the file’s elements in the Incopy program in layout view.
6. After you do this, the next time you access a story you should be able to open an .icma file directly— no need to download the .icml components again as they’re stored locally —for a week or two, or until the layout changes.

Not intuitive, but it works. Please give it a try. Good luck!