How to delete files on one device without losing them on another device

[Dave35]

I have Dropbox on my home computer and on my work computer. I have them synced. However, I am changing jobs and would like to delete Dropbox--and all files and folders--from my work computer only (preserving that data on my home computer). How can I do this safely? I'm worried that once I delete the files on one computer, the other computer will sync to it and I'll lose all of the files on both computers, which would be a disaster. Please inform. Thank you.

[steg1]

Hi Dave!

There are different ways to do this.

1st solution.

Since you are leaving your actual job, you can delete the files on your work computer, and still preserve the files in your DB (and thus on your home computer), by first logging out from the dropbox application on your work computer, and then deleting the files on your work computer.

2nd solution.

Use selective sync: see https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/selective-sync-overview

[Megan]

Hey @Dave35, Happy Thursday! I hope you're doing well. 

@steg1 explained it amazingly.

You're not wrong to believe that if you delete the content, while both devices are in sync, that would delete your content. 

However, all you'd have to do on your work computer is to make sure the Dropbox desktop application is uninstalled.

Once that's done, you can safely remove and delete all of your content, without affecting your folders or files online. 

Can you give this a go, and keep me posted?

[ALWF]

I have a work computer that has access to my personal DropBox files.  I recently bought a new computer and want to only have my DropBox files on my new personal computer and not on my work computer.  How can i deny access or delete files on my work computer without modifying or deleting documents in DropBox cloud?

[Megan]

Hi @ALWF, let's jump straight into this! 

The best thing you can do is sign out of the app, then uninstall and proceed with any other changes you want to make. 

If you have enabled our Computer backup feature, you might want to disable it too. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

[ALWF]

Thanks for your response.  I'm still confused.  When I log onto my computer and go to look at the S drive, C drive, or Desktop, Dropbox is listed there, too.  How do I sign out when it's listed with all the other locations on my computer?  I'm not tech savvy at all, so I apologize in advance if I'm just not getting it.

[Hannah]

Sorry to jump in here, @ALWF.

Do you mean that you have multiple Dropbox folders on your computer in all those locations?

Generally, only one Dropbox folder is the working/syncing one; you can find which one it is, by clicking on the Dropbox icon in your system stay.

Then, click on your initials/profile pic, then on Preferences and then on the 'sync' tab; there you'll find the correct Dropbox folder path. 

The rest are probably old copies, not connected to your account.