cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Re: Can I use the new Backup Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folder feature to sync across comp...

How can I have two Macs syncing with the same Home folders?

MichaelQC
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution

How can I move the folders in the Home folder so that they are in my Dropbox? I want them all synced between two macs. My aim is to have both macs as close as possible to being copies of each other.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi @MichaelQC, thanks for messaging today!

 

If you want the two devices to sync their Home folders directly, then this won’t be possible using the Dropbox desktop application, though there might be some other service or app that links to Dropbox which could perform this action for you.

 

There is the automatic computer backup feature, however, this doesn’t work the way in which you’re looking for, since each computer would have their own folder syncing to the site, essentially duplicating data for you.

 

Hope this helps to clarify matters!


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!

View solution in original post

11 Replies 11

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi @MichaelQC, thanks for messaging today!

 

If you want the two devices to sync their Home folders directly, then this won’t be possible using the Dropbox desktop application, though there might be some other service or app that links to Dropbox which could perform this action for you.

 

There is the automatic computer backup feature, however, this doesn’t work the way in which you’re looking for, since each computer would have their own folder syncing to the site, essentially duplicating data for you.

 

Hope this helps to clarify matters!


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!

TheEconomist
Explorer | Level 3
Go to solution

Am I able to use the new computer backup feature to sync my Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folder feature to sync across my two computers? It looks like it is only a backup feature and would not do something similiar to how I believe iCloud Drive works for Macs where it will keep those folders in sync for you.

 

Is that accurate?

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi @TheEconomist, thanks for posting this question on the Dropbox Community. 

 

You are right, the computer backup feature lets you back up computer folder such as Desktop, Documents, and Downloads, to your Dropbox folder, and any changes you make to them will sync.

 

You can find more information about this feature, here

 

Hope this helps!


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

TheEconomist
Explorer | Level 3
Go to solution

Hi @Lusil – I realize any changes will sync to the cloud, but I would like the changes to automatically sync to another Mac's desktop.

 

I'd like to use this feature to keep the desktops of two different Macs in sync, so when I edit a file on one computer on the desktop, those changes are reflected on the desktop of the 2nd computer.

 

So far it only looks like I can backup and sync changes to the Dropbox cloud, not another machine.

 

I'm wondering if I am missing a configuration that will allow me to use this to keep two desktops on two different machines in sync without needing to manually drag files out of my dropbox folder on one of them.

 

Thank you.

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Thanks for getting back to me, @TheEconomist

 

If you have computer backup enabled on both devices, it should add the relevant items to your Dropbox folder, but each computer will have its own path in your Dropbox folder.

 

For example, if your computers are called "First" and "Second", computer backup will create two separate folders, called "My Mac First" and "My Mac Second", to save your Documents/Desktop/Downloads folders, respectively. 

 

However, just to make sure that we're on the same page, could you let me know a few details, such as:

  • What does the Dropbox icon (that's next to your computer's clock) show when you hover over it on both computers?
  • Do you by any chance have the computer backup folders selectively synced on one of the devices?

Looking forward to hearing back from you!


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

MBernhardt
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

I am trying to understand how DropBox works with the new desktop, documents and downloads folder integration. I have 2 Macs and I've turned it all on for both of them. I also set it to use the Finder rather than the Dropbox app.

 

At this point it appears that they are sharing 1 documents folder but still have separate desktop and downloads folders.  I see that on both computers, I can access these folders on the remote computer via the dropbox folder, but I wanted all of these to sync up. Is there a way to do that?

Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Thanks for posting @MBernhardt!

 

You have a very similar question to the OP in this topic, so I've just moved your message so that I can point you to have a look at the info Jay posted above.

 

Since enabling the backup on both devices would result in two backup folders, perhaps on the second device I can suggest creating an alias to the "Home" folder from the first device's backup folder in Dropbox.

 

If you have some subfolders in the backed up Home folder, you can create an alias to each folder on the second device's Home folder so that it looks more similar to having the files also present there too.

 

I hope this info helps, I'm just a post away if you have any questions!


Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

MBernhardt
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

Thanks. The main thing I wanted was to have access to each other's folders without having to file share--one's a laptop and may not be on the same network. I can do that with an alias to the other Mac's backup folder.

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi @MBernhardt, an alias wouldn't be able to sync another folder into the Dropbox folder, including the computer backup folders. It won't sync to another machine for that reason.


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!

Need more support?