Duplicate Documents folder on Mac running Ventura - help please

[marcvarc]

I have a MacBook Pro running Ventura 13.2.

I reinstalled Dropbox Basic, requesting that the folders Documents and Camera Uploads be uploaded, but marked them as Make Available Offline. They have been uploaded as expected.

I now have a local Dropbox folder containing these two folders, held in my Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox.

However, I still have my original documents folder, now labelled Documents - Local.

So I am apparently duplicating the folder Documents, which is a waste of space, and,

when I add a new document to Documents - Local, it is copied to the Documents folder in online Dropbox, but not to my local folder in Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox as seen in the Dropbox local app.

I don't understand, and would be grateful for an explanation and a suggested course of action to save space and keep only the most recent version of my files.

Many thanks, marcvarc

[Megan]

Hi @marcvarc, let's jump right into this! 

Just to make sure we're on the same page, and that I understood this correctly: you have a Documents folder both inside your Dropbox folder, and outside of it, in a path called Documents- Local?

What is the app's syncing status currently? Also, could you send me some screenshots of both the Document paths that you see on your device, in order for me to have visual too?

Thank you!

[marcvarc]

Dear Megan,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Yes, you did understand this correctly: I have a Documents folder both inside my Dropbox folder, and outside of it, in a path called Documents- Local.

Here are some screen shots.

1. My Dropbox folder showing under Mackintosh HD › Users › marchartley › Library > CloudStorage

2. The Documents folder within the Dropbox folder showing under Mackintosh HD › Users › marchartley › Library › Library > CloudStorage (also showing sync status of files)

3. The local Documents folder showing under Mackintosh HD › Users › marchartley › Documents

4. The Dropbox app showing sync status

Many thanks for looking at this Megan, and I look forward to your comments.

Kind regards, marcvarc

[Megan]

Hi @marcvarc, thank you for the screenshots! 

Weird behavior indeed. 

if you go up a folder and look in the Documents under your user folder, what do you see there? Can you send me some screenshots?  Do you have any syncing icons there? 

When you access your Documents folder in Dropbox, do you see a Documents-local folder too?

And one last thing, if you select the Documents-local folder and cmd and click to open the properties, what's the file path shown there?

[marcvarc]

Thank you for your help Megan.
Re: "if you go up a folder and look in the Documents under your user folder, what do you see there? Can you send me some screenshots?  Do you have any syncing icons there?"
Here is screenshot 1 - as you can see, no syncing icons.

Re: "When you access your Documents folder in Dropbox, do you see a Documents-local folder too?"
Here is screenshot 2 - as you can see, no Documents - Local folder.

However, when I open the Dropbox Documents folder, there is no sign of the new document that I just added to Documents - Local, called "!!!New doc for Megan added to “Dropbox – Local”.docx", which you could see in screenshot 1 above.
Screenshot 3. 

So my apologies, I was wrong when I said that when I add a new document to Documents - Local, it is copied to the Documents folder in online Dropbox, but not to my local folder in Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox as seen in the Dropbox local app.
When I add a document added to Documents - Local, e.g. "!!!New doc for Megan added to “Dropbox – Local”.docx" it is NOT synced.

Re: "if you select the Documents-local folder and cmd and click to open the properties, what's the file path shown there?"
Here is Screenshot 4 (I assume that by 'open the properties' you mean the Get Info command) - as you can see the path is: Mackintosh HD › Users › marchartley › Documents  

So, I guess that when I reinstalled Dropbox Basic, creating the folders Documents and Camera
Uploads, the local Documents folder should have been deleted, but wasn't. 

Megan, can you confirm that is what should have happened?
If so, all I have to do is delete the Documents - Local folder and use the Dropbox Documents folder in all cases.

Many thanks, marcvarc

[Jay]

Hi @marcvarc, generally, the files and folders should've been moved into the CloudStorage location during the migration, however, it looks like it didn't complete for this folder.

Could you check the Dropbox Backups page just in case to see if the files with the green tick are visible on the site, showing that the backup is working successfully?

[marcvarc]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your help.

Yes, all my files seem to be there on Dropbox online.

The weird behaviour has resumed -  when I add a new document to Documents - Local, it is copied to the Documents folder in online Dropbox, but not to my local folder in Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox as seen in the Dropbox local app.

(I guess Dropbox is still backing up from old locations as well as the new CloudStorage location.)

However this won't matter when I delete the Documents - Local folder and point my apps to Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/Documents.

Many thanks for your and Megan's help.

Kind regards, marcvarc