Add option to disable icon overlays in Windows Explorer

[StopMessingWithOverlayIcons]

Please add an option to disable Dropbox icon overlays. It is so frustrating to remove Dropbox Shell Icon identifiers from the top of ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers list after each update! 

It is disrespectful to users to decide for them which overlays they need. 

I'm using TortoiseGit and I really need its overlays, they are useful and important for my work. Every time Dropbox updates I can no longer see status icons and have to go to Registry editor and remove newly added and USELESS Dropbox overlays.

I've seen dozens of feature requests from Dropbox users for many years but Dropbox pretends everything is fine!

UPD: 

I had patience to open a thread and communicate with Dropbox team on this issue. After almost 2 years, more than 100 upvotes they have just thrown my idea away suggesting me to edit Windows registry. I've heared your answer, that's how you treat your loyal users.

So long Dropbox!

[bcgirton]

The Dropbox leadership needs quit fending off the multitude of small user complaints.  You are a subsidiary and a niche service provider, not a tech giant squatting on an operating system with bundled services.  The giants are like gravity; everyone does business with them, but they want to know everything about their customers in return.  You do not have the ability to compete with them in terms of the breadth of applications and depth of integration they can offer.  As it stands, the only reason anyone would rationally choose Dropbox (or any independent cloud storage provider) over the cloud storage solutions built into every laptop and phone is better privacy; the unenforceable, incomprehensible legal assurances that each giant uses to paper over the ugly reality of their business are not enough for some  of us.  However, if Dropbox wishes to continue to be relevant, they are going to have to do more listening to the little gripes and wants, and engaging.  I believe it should be possible to do this and still make a buck for the bean counters to count, but you are going to have to engage better than the giants do, or I predict you will no longer be relevant a decade from now.  We don't need another take-it-or-leave it service bleeding our bank accounts.

[johne53]

Well said, @bcgirton - this must surely be one of the most voted-for features here and yet the powers that be have UTTERLY refused to take any notice.

And yet I'm forever getting emails from Dropbox asking why I don't use their service any more (I received another one just a few minutes ago...)

Let me say it plainly... for those of us affected by this problem IT MAKES DROPBOX TOTALLY UNUSABLE!! So if you want people to come back to Dropbox - FIX THE PROBLEMS!!!!

[Oswald1]

Who accepted this solution? Can anybody call this a solution? Please fix Dropbox.

[Cris A.]

And yet, 2 years later and nothing has been done about the issue!

And here, educate your devs about the issue... as it's still not solved:

Why is there a limit of 15 shell icon overlays? - The Old New Thing (microsoft.com)

[johne53]

The stupid thing is that we're not even asking them to remove the overlay feature - just to make it user-selectable. It can't possibly be more than a few hours work.

[Cris A.]

There's and even more stupid thing... I'll be looking for an open source or free sync client alternative. Bye Dropbox!

[digisolve]

This doesn't work for me. 'NT Service\TrustedInstaller' is not recognised 

[digisolve]

I don't want or need the Dropbox overlays. But I DO need my Subversion overlays. However, Dropbox from time to time changes my overlays in the registry

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers

I've disabled overlays forever in Dropbox, but Dropbox STILL changes my registry & I have to delete the Dropbox entries, restart Windows Explorer to get Subversion to run again

[Rich]

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@digisolve wrote:

However, Dropbox from time to time changes my overlays in the registry

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This happens because Dropbox updates the registry whenever a new version is installed.

*** UNOFFICIAL *** NOT SUPPORTED *** DO AT YOUR OWN RISK ***

Change the permissions on that Registry key so nothing can write to it, and your overlays will never change. I don't know what other consequences this could result in so DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

[Stargx]

I came across an unforeseen issue with this. Arconis want to update to a new version, and that installer wanted to write to the overlay registry. Because it was denied, the installation failed.

Luckily, it came up with a decent error and I temporary gave it write access and the problem was solved.

As so many have said, we shouldn't have to do this. It's a trivial thing to have an option in dropbox to not write to the overlay registry. Pretty shameful that they won't add it.