Installing Dropbox kills macOS Finder app then fails to install because Finder.app can't be opened

[paulhenman]

Mac mini running Ventura (macOS 13.3); Dropbox v170.4.5895 (I think - whatever's currently 

I've had Dropbox running ok for a long time then it started causing problems as soon as it updated and insisted on moving ~/Dropbox to 

~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox

I uninstalled Dropbox; rebooted; installed it again, but it kills the Finder and then complains that Finder.app can't be opened. 

I've uninstalled Dropbox and moved all my files to a new folder (so I can use them until this is fixed) but is there anything I can do to fix this mess?

[Jay]

Hi @paulhenman, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

In the current state, without the Dropbox desktop application installed, are you able to open Finder?

When installing the app, do you want to enable the computer backup feature, which is shown in the screenshot?

Is the Dropbox folder visible in Finder, and if so, where is it currently located?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!

[paulhenman]

Hi Jay

Without Dropbox installed, the Finder is working fine.

I don't know if I want to enable backup (I keep almost nothing in those folders) but it keeps asking the question. 

Is it possible to avoid moving the Dropbox folder into ~/Library/Cloudstorage because I hear that causes other problems, e.g. Photos.app ?

My temporary copy of files is ~/Dropbox.copy  (Hopefully once it's working again I can save downloading everything again by putting these files back where they belong)

[Megan]

Hi @paulhenman, what you mentioned could be related to Backup. 

Can you try to skip Backing up for now, and just try to install the app and see how this one goes? 

[paulhenman]

Hi @Megan 

OK, I've installed Dropbox.

When it asked "Want to keep your Mac backed up?" I said "Not right now" and deselected all my folders, so in theory nothing should have been synced.

When it asked "Save Screenshots to Dropbox" I said yes, so the only selected sync is the Screenshots folder.

It only took a minute to finish the sync, and then I'm left with a "(1)" alert on the menubar icon.

How long can I ignore the update "to use it on the latest version of macOS"?  

And now I want to sync the other folders that I had kept locally - do I enable sync and drop my files in, or move the copied folder back before enabling sync?

[Megan]

Hi @paulhenman, thank you for reaching back to me, I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

If you choose to update and use the app on the latest version for macOS, do you get any errors or are you able to successfully update the app? Also, based on your initial response, I thought you had already tried to update, isn't this the case? 

Personally, I would suggest that you resume syncing -if you've already paused the app-and once the app is up-to-date, you can add any updated files in your Dropbox folder, just to avoid any duplication if you choose to go with the second option.