Request regarding MacOS X 10.10 (Yosemite) & 10.11 (El Capitan)

[justmeinNJ]

I just received a notice that dropbox will cease support for OS 10.10 and 10.11.

The notice, giving it the most leeway i can, indicated that i should consider upgrading my OS or use a web browser.  This is not always possible.

For many of us, we are at the end of the line re: OS upgrades. I have an old macbook pro that i use for a few light tasks - but the data must be available on others machines. I use dropbox for this.  I also cannot use the web browser unless i wish to upload files with each change.  Impractical.

I will likely wind up switching to a different cloud service, which i would prefer not to do - yet maybe i must.

I don't know why you are ending support. The clients exist already and are unlikely to require many changes, if any.  Please reconsider.

--justmeinNJ

[Chern]

Hey DrJ1,

It's easy. Take the oldest machine (with Dropbox folders), install pCloud (or whichever new syncing app you choose), point the new app to sync your Dropbox folder and all its contents

Once a copy is synced to pCloud, download pCloud onto your other machines, and sync as usual. If your machines are LAN together, select "sync over LAN". Besure to delete your Dropbox and its contents before syncing over pCloud. You may have to repay the links if you're working on apps with linked files etc. But I've taken the hit and repath every file I need to...

It takes time. Mine took 4 days for 50gb due to slow connection. And another few days to re-path my live working folders.

Once bitten twice shy, I have kept my Dropbox subscription only as a backup for newer machines. Funny it used to be the other way around, the backups are the older machines!

[MARSRAM]

Yep, I too want to use an older version of the Dropbox Mac Desktop App which is compatible with MacOS X 10.11.6 El Capitan. For this to be possible would not require a thing on Dropbox's development team's part, but to simply leave it alone & refrain from blocking the older Dropbox Desktop versions from being able to connect & sync with our online Dropbox accounts. Be it theoretically becoming more vulnerable as it may, what hackers would want to waste their precious time & efforts on frugal peeps such as those of us pathetically trying to persuade you sophisticated folks there at Dropbox HQ to leave the legacy software gates open? I don't think they'll stay motivated after hacking into .07cent card accounts. Even the malware bots wouldn't touch our identities with a 10nanometer pole which is substantial for a virtual entity. I guess this is all futile banter. Although I pretty much used Dropbox 97% of the time, I just remembered I have all those other large file transfer apps that I almost never put to use, such as Hightail, Box, SendFile, Droplr, CloudApp, DropCloud, etc. Maybe one of these delinquents will still be functional. Anyhoo, I should have purchased the M1 infused MacMini when I had the chips. Box was actually pretty slick I remember the couple times I utilized it. Well, farewell & I hope we all are able to transform our ways on this living mothership for a more harmonic net-being where the self-sustaining individual is uniquely recognized and conversely resonates with natural contribution to the collective cosmological super-organism. Visceral & virtual mycelial auras in-mesh dissolving dimensionality and toroidally omni-vector an infinite godhead lattice where imagination & exploration meet archaic memory to become the engine for creation, beauty, & novelty towards the numinous unknown.

[MARSRAM]

Adobe Flash End Of Life gave over a years notice. That's a proper heads up. Something that holds personal or business files should give prior notice somewhere close to that ballpark, right?

[loukash]

As of today 6 January 2023, the Dropbox app v164.x is Sierra+ only, so all syncing will stop on El Capitan because the app can't launch anymore.

BUT…

There's still a way! 🙂 

Downgrade to v163 which is the last version to launch on El Capitan.
Get the offline installer here: 
https://dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-desktop-client-builds/Stable-Build-163-4-5456/td-p/644068

However, it requires a 3rd party app that can block specific network connections, like Little Snitch.

You will have to block dropboxstatic.com which is where the creepy autoupdate downloads new versions.

Also, you may need to prevent the autoupdate to install the desktop app into alternative locations.

That may require more advanced knowledge of how to handle the MacOS file system.

You may want to lock the first few top level folders inside the Dropbox.app package as well as the app itself so that they are not writable to anyone. That goes via Finder Info window, also via context menu if you're using e.g. XtraFinder.

The updater may also try to install the desktop app into ~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app.
To block it, delete this app instance and create a blank folder named exactly the same: "Dropbox.app". It will change its icon into a "nonfunctional application". Lock it as well so that no one can write to it.

I'm not sure what exactly ~/Library/Dropbox/DropboxMacUpdate.app does, but I blocked it the same way as the aforementioned app instance.

With these measures in place, syncing continues to work on El Capitan as of today.

~~~

That all said, today I have opened a pCloud account and migrated all content anyway. 😛

[Unlabelled Media]

So, been using Dropbox for a while now, and was very happy with the software so far, until the notice to upgrade OS, which is no go, as even if I wanted to do it, I would not be able to. So simply switching to pCloud which still works like a charm. Had to say it, a legacy version would not kill anyone.

[Colin W.1]

Thanks for the info, may finish trying that out. So far have found that I needed a newer 10.12 machine to download the offline (or any) installer - then move the file.

[loukash]

To bypass the MacOS system check, use an addon/extension like https://add0n.com/useragent-switcher.html to make your browser appear as if you were using Catalina or whatever.

[Colin W.1]

yeah, wondered if some browser option like that might work. Had a running machine with Catalina by my left hand so turned that way! Many thanks and hope someone finds that useful!

[Colin W.1]

loukash's notes make it seem a legacy would be pretty trivial. Maybe we are still in an interim and it will stop as I kinda suspect they may redesign the file transfer engine as a result of kernel extensions being impossible(?) in newer macOS's - will have to wait a while to know. 

I would lower my opinion of them if all it did need was for DB to allow old code to continue operating!

[Chern]

Reading through all the replies above, I did keep some older version of Dropbox installers just in case.

That said, my 10.11 machine is running fine on pCloud, albeit a little slower due to encryption.

Would give the snitching tool and the "raising" of OS a appearance a try. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the dollars involved, it's always a commercial decision to decline further support and upgrades in the guise of obsolescence. Heck, some power plants still run on windows 98.