How to stop DropBox from asking whether to back up a USB stick

[mmo]

Whenever I connect a USB stick to my computer Dropbox pops up and asks me whether I want to backup that stick to Dropbox and I have to click that darn dialog away AGAIN. I never have and never will back up to Dropbox (I have my own NAS for that). So, how do I stop this annoying nonsense that I have never asked for?

And why is there no checkbox or button "Never ask me again"?

[Rich · Accepted solution]

@mmo  wrote: 
 

Whenever I connect a USB stick to my computer Dropbox pops up and asks me whether I want to backup that stick to Dropbox ... how do I stop this annoying nonsense that I have never asked for?

You can disable it on the Backup tab in Dropbox Preferences.

[mmo]

Thanks for the hint! It made me aware that my DropBox client obviously was in some odd state and while DropBox obviously still worked (as I could notice by these popups mentioned) and also properly synced files its icon did not show up anymore in the taskbar. No idea where it went...

Since I couldn't figure out, how to make it re-appear in the taskbar I un- and re-installed the DropBox client. Now it shows up again and I was able to open the preferences dialog and in that I was able to switch this off as suggested.

Thanks again!

[WoofGrrrr]

I have UN-CHECKED "Show setup notifications when new external drives are plugged-in." and I am STILL getting these pop-ups.

Is this not the way to turn these off?

Also, I clicked AUTO-PLAY settings and UN-CHECKED "Use AutoPlay for all media and devices" (it is Off.)

In addition, under "Choose AutoPlay Defaults", "Removable drive" is set to "Take no action" and "Memory card" is also set to "Take no action".

[Hannah]

Hey @WoofGrrrr, sorry to see you're having this issue.

Can you quit the Dropbox application, restart your computer and then restart Dropbox, to see if that helps?

[Taekmantle]

The solution - disable it on the Backup tab in Dropbox Preferences - doesn't work for me. I cannot access Preferences, not on my Win 10 PC, not on the Dropbox web page.

[Rich]

---

@Taekmantle wrote:

I cannot access Preferences, not on my Win 10 PC, not on the Dropbox web page.

---

You access Preferences from the Dropbox application on your computer; not the Dropbox website. Why are you unable to access Preferences? What happens when you try?

[Taekmantle]

Thanks for responding Rich.

If I open Dropbox on the computer I see a file that looks exactly like any other open file on my computer. I see the documents I have saved there and a hidden file called .dropbox.cache. Nothing else. There is no 'tab' for Preferences. I can right click on the Dropbox icon in the menu, but there is no Preferences to choose there. I can look in Properties - but again I see no Preferences.

I can't see anything in the ribbon at the top of the Dropbox file either.

[Rich]

---

@Taekmantle wrote:

If I open Dropbox on the computer I see a file that looks exactly like any other open file on my computer.

---

You're clicking the wrong icon. You need to single-click the icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac).

• https://help.dropbox.com/account-settings/view-preferences

[Taekmantle]

I'm sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it doesn't matter whether I right-click or left-click the icon, and it doesn't matter whether it's in my task bar, start field or picked from the list of 'all apps'. I still don't get a Preferences option. I have tried to get it to show up in my system tray, but it won't appear there. (I don't know why it should only be there that the Preferences option appears.) Do I perhaps need to remove Dropbox altogether and reinstall it?