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My Computer backup isn't working like it used to. Is there a way to restore it?

My Computer backup isn't working like it used to. Is there a way to restore it?

bkhaller
New member | Level 2

When I first installed dropbox there was some option I selected that made it so that my desktop was backed up live - that is, the desktop folder within the dropbox folder (i.e. C:/Users/***/Dropbox/PC/Desktop) was my ACTIVE desktop. All my files on my desktop showed the little green check to say they're available offline, and when I made changes they would re-sync within a few minutes. Every file path through the desktop went through the dropbox folder. I believe this is some feature of "Dropbox Backup." Anyways, today I ran some windows updates and now this is no longer the case (I believe this change was due to some accidental interference with OneDrive, because my desktop was replaced by a very old version of my desktop from when I used to do a similar thing with OneDrive). All my files still exist within the dropbox folder, with the same "available offline" icons and everything, but that Dropbox>PC>Desktop folder is no longer my default desktop. The files on my actual desktop are clearly separate from those files. Is there a way to restore this old method of syncing/backing up, where I, by default, work through the Dropbox folder? I've been struggling with this for hours now and one of the side effects has been my dropbox storage usage going from just 2 or 3 GB to now about 12 (I'm thinking this is due to my repeated attempts to sync/back things up), which is very frustrating. Some help would be appreciated.

1 Reply 1

Megan
Dropbox Staff

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

 

The first thing we would need to check together, is if Backup is currently enabled on your end. 

 

If you access the app's preferences, and click Backups what do you see there? You also mentioned that you can still see your Desktop folder inside your Dropbox folder, right? 

 

When you attempt to make any changes there, do you see these reflected online?

 

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there! 


Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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