How do I stop Dropbox syncing my computer folders?

[mcpreece]

Hello all,

I am a MAC user.  I recently added a feature to my Dropbox Plus account where I can sync my Desktop and Downloads Folders.  Although initially I thought this to be a good idea, I now find that everytime I install a program or connect my video camera to my computer, Dropbox immediately begins to sync any changes to my desktop, including the SD Card connected to my camera etc.

How can I disable this feature so my desktop is not affected by Dropbox?

Thank you.

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @mcpreece, thanks for joining the Community!

It sounds like you’ve enabled the automatic computer backup.

You can follow the steps in this article to disable it, so you can then move the folders back to their old location.

Hope this helps!

[mcpreece]

Thank you!  This has solved my problem.

[Jay]

Glad to have helped out, @mcpreece!

[Milka_Gen]

Hello! I have a problem and I can't manage it myself, unfortunately, I've tried everything I could. Well. I've installed Dropbox on my laptop and it asked me to let it to settings. Actually I needed this program to make text in it with another person at the same time, so it was enough for me only to sign it, not to download and so on. But I installed it never the less, pushed OK on every question. Then during my work in a text file in Dropbox, every new letter was reflected in a pop-up message as "Look! Here is updating". So... it was kinda annoying and my laptop started being warm and noisy... I decided to delete the Dropbox program and just pulled it into the garbage. And then the problem started - the basket showed that 987 objects are deleting! And I couldn't stop it! So the Desktop, the Documents, the Downloads are disappeared! Ok, I found all my files and folders in Dropbox online. But when I try to download it back it tells me that I have no space for it. Well. Ok. I ask Siry for how many spaces I have, so its 100 GB. And all my efforts to download even small objects fails by the same reason - no space. So. I need to understand what the heck I did and how to fix it back. Please, somebody, help russian blond stupid girl! I suffer and this situation delays my job!

[Daphne]

Hi there @Milka_Gen, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with this!

Just to clarify with you so I can assist you more accurately, can you just let me know if you moved the Dropbox folder to your trash bin on your computer?

Are you able to restore the folder from there perhaps? If you uninstalled the application on your computer, the Dropbox folder will just be like any other folder on your computer.

Also, if you try downloading your files directly from the web, what error do you get? If your account is full, the desktop app wouldn't be able to sync but you can still download them from the web.

Let me know and we can go from there!

[bsmall]

I have found a directory within a sub-sub directory of C:\Users\Dropbox that appears to be an exact duplicate of my C:\Users\MyName directory. Changes made in either directory show up immediately in the other.

Deleting the dropbox duplicate deletes the proper one, so I cannot get rid of the duplication.

The duplication is recursive, so it repeats "further down" than I care to follow it.

However, it does NOT seem to be a duplication of the files themselves, else my drive would be maxed out, and non functional.

I'd like to get rid of the duplicate, if possible, as it causes a bit of a problem when I'm searching for files. Other than that, I don't know if it's causing problems or not.

[mg]

I might be having a similar problem. Windows 10. 

When I open the Windows File Explorer, I see dropbox. That dropbox matches the items on the website (dropbox).

However, in the structure of my hard drive (C: Users/My Name/), it seems that Dropbox is duplicated. And, I have added things to one of these dropbox folders that are not syncing. 

[Rich]

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@bsmall wrote:

I have found a directory within a sub-sub directory of C:\Users\Dropbox that appears to be an exact duplicate of my C:\Users\MyName directory. Changes made in either directory show up immediately in the other.

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• https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/automatic-computer-backup-faqs

[Bassey]

I mistakenly added mypc (desktop, downloads and document folders) to dropbox sync. How do i undo pls