Moving from an old Mac to a new Mac are there step-by-step instructions somewhere?

[2HDD]

I'm about to get a new MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. My current MacBook Pro is a mid-2012 (old-school) so it's been forever since I've had to set up DropBox on a new computer. Are there step-by-step instructions somewhere on disabling DropBox on the new computer and installing on the new one? I want to make this as easy on myself as possible so I want to make sure I do everything in the right order. Thanks for any advice!

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Hi @2HDD, thanks for using Dropbox and posting on our Community!

If you made sure that the app has finished syncing and it's up to date in your menu bar, you can simply quit the app and then uninstall it, if needed. 

On the new computer, just download and install the desktop app and sign in with your Dropbox account. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

[ChuckS2]

I have well over a TB stored on my MacBookPro. In moving Dropbox to my new MBP, is there any way to avoid downloading all that?  (Xfinity will freak out.). Thanks. 

[Walter]

Hey @ChuckS2, thanks for joining the discussion here.

When it comes to your concern, note that upon installing the desktop app on your new computer you'll get an option to choose which folders you'd like to be Online Only via our online only files feature and/or via the selective sync feature.

i hope this helps!

[ChuckS2]

Thanks, Walter.  But what I would really like is to download only the app, and then populate it with data transferred directly from my old computer, thus avoiding the download of any data while retaining all my locally-saved data.  I pictured using Apple’s Migration Assistant (or something similar) to do this. Any thoughts?  Thanks again. 

[Walter]

In that case, you need to choose the "Advanced" setup option during the installation process. Then you need to choose the parent folder of the existing Dropbox folder as the location for this new install.

Since you'll be connecting with the same Dropbox account as before, Dropbox will detect the existing folder and will then prompt you to merge the Dropbox folder. Upon merging the desktop version of Dropbox will check the existing files and the server versions and update accordingly.

Please do note that any changes made to the files in the Dropbox folder or on the web interface while the folder was "offline" will generate conflicted copies.

Let me know how you get on, Chuck!

[ChuckS2]

Thanks, Walter, that sounds good. 

[omac]

I have a similar related. I already migrated peer-to-peer on the new Mac - and during migration it already copied all my dropbox files. But when I signin to Dropbox, it gives me the option to restore from backup or skip ... so I try to restore ... it gave me some errors saying some files were not where they were supposed to be, e.g. Desktop, Download, Documents ... so I try again, and then SKIP. Now when I click to open the Dropbox app, it seems to show me a duplicate set of files that are in the Dropbox "Cloud" - how do I point them to the already migrated files? The new machine is a Macbook Air M2 with MacOS Venture 13.2.1

[Hannah]

Hey @omac, sorry to see you're having trouble here.

Can you send us a couple of screenshots, so we can have a visual of the issue, please?

If you click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then on the folder icon next to your initials/profile pic, do you see your Dropbox files there as normal?

[sgrab]

Hi, they already shared screenshots. I'm having the exact same issue.