Dropbox support for macOS 12.3

[Anna R.5]

So I'm referring to https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/macos-12-monterey-support

Does this mean it will be 100% safe to upgrade to macOS 12.3 as long as I keep Smart sync to Local, please?

[struckd]

Seriously?  All of my files are on Dropbox, organized the way I want them on Mac Finder.  The new upgrade will move ALL MY FILES to a different location?  And some of them will not work?  This is a disaster in the making.  And what happens when I try to access them on a different computer? Will the fire structures be different?  How long can I avoid this upgrade?

[Mark]

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@struckd wrote:

How long can I avoid this upgrade?

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At the moment.... until Apple mandates it 😞 

Which probably means stopping upgrades on the OS

[jekratz]

OneDrive on Mac has always been a steaming pile but I've not had any issues with Google Drive at all, even with the update that uses the same file provider API that dropbox seems to be having such a problem with.

[cbonargent]

@alextsnet

@ddadda 

As crazy as it may be, I'm still using Ventura 13.2.1 with the "old" Dropbox, and it is as it is.

Have you (or anyone else in this situation) moved on to the new Dropbox, and is it 'ok' now?

Wondering if anyone with these issues is still out there at all...

Thanks for any feedback!

[alextsnet]

@cbonargent I am running 13.4.1 on the M1 Mini and M1 Air with the "old" Dropbox. That badge and pop-up has been there since last time I posted in the thread and things are fine. I'm running 10.15.7 on an Intel 4790k desktop machine that has Dropbox on an internal HDD separate from the macOS drive and it's also fine.

So, your question - and mine - still stands: How much longer are we going to be able to get away with this?

My selective sync'd Dropboxes are fine hanging out where they are on the M1 machines (on the boot/OS drive). It would be a minor annoyance if paths changed because I do Hazel and some light/sane symlinking for convenience. The big problem is if "updating" is going to break Dropbox on my Catalina rig. That one cannot go back onto the boot drive.

Edit: I completely understand it's inadvisable to have such an old OS like 10.15.7 "on the internet." It isn't most of the time. It's a DAW, and I simply refuse to eat Apple's internal storage prices just to have all of my Dropbox available offline on the boot drive. Even a new Mac Studio or whatever would still be largely offline for me - that's not the problem - the problem is that Dropbox "has" to be on the boot drive according to this post. Except it doesn't... yet??

[johnhalldesign]

So question for the people still using the old Dropbox (non File-provider version) with OS 13

I'm currently on OS 12.6 on two Macs using this version. I have been dealing with the limitations of not being able to open online-only files directly through an app, by just making them local before I work on them.  Little bit of a hassle, but I can deal. Most of my everyday files are local on both machines anyway.

But I was about to take the plunge and upgrade both machines to the current OS (13.5)  today, and trying to understand the File Provider version better, and see I'm getting is message:

"You are not eligible for the updated Dropbox for macOS on file provider at this time. Your Dropbox folder contains some file types that are not supported"

Really can't figure out what files these might be.  

So not sure what do do now. Do I go ahead and update to the latest OS and see what happens, or should I figure out what these files are, and try to do the File Provider update first?

If I upgrade OS without upgrading to File Provider, will things keep working as they have been, or are there likely to be further complications? I'd really prefer to keep working with the workarounds I have now, than to deal with the Dropbox folder moving, and having to relink everything. My files are mostly Adobe files with a lot of links to other Adobe files.

Really need to get current on the latest OS, which I haven't done in over a year just because of Dropbox?

[innermotion]

What can I say but overall it will work ok but with same limitations. FileProvider framework from Apple is far from perfect as well.

I have to support CloudStorage in business settings access OneDrive/Gdrive/Dropbox and overall each one has its quirks. You are only delaying the inevitable which is you will have to move to it.

One of the key complaints is when you have large file counts the sync can stall so keep an eye on that. Large files do not sync as quickly as before and also get used to closing out files more religiously in the Adobe world. Indd and so Ai files can get screwed up but hey nothing new there.

[rfog]

Since I'm using Synology Drive (you need a Synology NAS), 0 problems. Synology Drive uses Apple FileProvider and I have about 1 M of files, and any change is almost immediately propagated across devices.

[innermotion]

We also use Synology as we still have on prem and large data sets, hybrid shares and sync is pretty good.

[Nunya_Business]

So what happens if I don't update to MacOS File Provider?

I do not use iCloud at all, so there is no need for my files to ever be in ~/Library/CloudStorage

And more importantly it's literally my computer, it's not Dropbox's, and it's not Apple's, it's mine, and as the owner I am the only one who gets to decide  where the files go. It's completely ridiculous for Dropbox, Apple or any other tech company to think they should be able move the location of my files on their own without my permission.

I'm not interested in a boilerplate response that Apple is making you do it for blah, blah, blah reasons. I'm just going to keep clicking 'not now' every time the nag message comes up. Will my files continue to sync as expected indefinitely or is there some hard deadline where that will stop working.

If there is a deadline where it will stop working if I haven't switched to MacOS File Provider, I will switch to a competing service.