Vault on Desktop is going away (macOS)

[Darryl M.4]

Boohoo! Just received this message when starting the macOS upgrade wizard.

I'd just started using this about 6 months ago. Sigh.

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @Darryl M.4, thanks for reaching out to us today.

We really appreciate your feedback about this and I will make sure that your comments are passed along to our team.

Indeed, on the latest Dropbox for macOS update, you will no longer be able to access Vault through the Dropbox desktop app.

However, you can still access your Vault on our website and the Dropbox mobile app.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[chrisrbailey]

How/why is this happening? Can Dropbox provide some background on why you would remove this? I make heavy use of this on desktop (and my use of Dropbox on mobile and web is minor in comparison). I just don't get it. I keep all sorts of sensitive docs in Vault, and need access to those from my desktop/laptop. Honestly, removing this from desktop makes the feature non-existant/useless to me, and as you can likely tell, makes me a very unhappy Dropbox customer right now. Is there a recommended alternative or?

[Mete Nadir]

This is really bad guys..!!

Dropbox really needs to give advanced notice on removing Vault from the desktop app and offer an alternative solution. I am sorry but this is a real amateur move. When Dropbox bought out Boxcryptor which had a similar feature that I was using, Boxcryptor went away as well as part of this purchase.

I hope this feedback goes to the highest levels at dropbox as this is not the level of service we have come to expect from Dropbox. really disappointed. 

WIll there be an alternative offered solution or should I be looking for and alternative solution and a service?

[CharlieLP]

I’ve yet to hear a compelling reason for this! Why would you remove the Vault from our computers? Why make it mandatory rather than an option?

Think about it this way…
The folder with my most sensitive files, that requires a password to access, you’re taking OFF MY computer and only allowing me to access via your website. This is so dumb. What if I need access to my tax returns but I don’t have internet access? If this isn’t fixed, I’ll be looking for another backup solution. One that won’t require me to give up having my most important files locally available.

[Jay]

Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for any inconvenience caused by the deprecation of Vault on desktop. 

We understand that this change may have caught some users off guard and we want to assure you that we're exploring options for addressing your concerns. 

While the desktop support for Vault has been deprecated, the web interface is still available for users to access their vault data. 

We appreciate your patience as we work to identify the best path forward for our users.

[NerdLord]

This is disappointing. The web version for many people is much more inconvenient, as you know. Otherwise, Dropbox would be full mobile/web only if the value of its desktop integration wasn't high.

I imagine some bug you can't work around or some OS restriction is coming. I'm sure you're all in touch with Apple, can you make a stronger push?

[beelove]

did anyone think that sending out an email about this might have been helpful?

did i really need to try to access sensitive banking info to find out (VIA GOOGLING) that i can no longer access vault via desktop?

so, now i need to move that password protected vault folder to one of my regular, unprotected folders just to make sure i have access on my desktop version?

this is crazy wack.

[ddunn801]

So to edit a Vault file, we now have to get online, open the website, navigate to the vault, enter the pin, download the file, edit the file, upload the file, delete the file we downloaded, empty trash. This is a big step backwards. Please undo this.

[CharlieLP]

Exactly! How did anyone think taking away this feature would serve us? And the response that “oh, you can still get it on the website.” is laughable.