Dropbox Icon missing Windows 10

[Alex M.76]

I fired my laptop up a couple of days ago and I noticed that the dropbox icon in the taskbar was missing.  I checked task manager and dropbox is running theres just no icon and if I kill the task and double click on the dropbox exe it loads the app but does not show the Icon so I am unable to check my settings or anything else.  Oddly enough it is still working fine on my main desktop.

I have completely uninstalled dropbox and reinstalled a couple of times but there is no change to my issue. 

Also, when I launch the installer, after it has downloaded the dropbox files via the installer it doesn't actually launch the install process to let me input my user account or link my files but if I check task manager it shows that dropbox.exe is running.

I am somewhat confused, can anyone help?

I have checked my AV and no issues there but I would assume if it was something to do with AV it would stop the app from being loaded

[kaysilyn]

I did this several times and it still is not appearing.  Any ideas?

[Jane]

Hey @kaysilyn, just in order to make sure I’m following-up with you correctly, can you let me know whether you’ve followed the steps Hoovey posted in the previous page?

Also, are you facing an issue loading the Dropbox icon on your system tray? Can you confirm that you're working on a pc? 

If it's not too much trouble for you, could you try restarting your computer once to reload the Dropbox visual elements & see if the issue persists? 

Following, I’d appreciate a screenshot (omitting personal info) of what you’re seeing in your next message here, so as to get a better idea of what’s happening.

Once I have this info, I’ll make sure to concentrate more on this specific case on this discussion. Thanks in advance for the time you’re devoting on the matter & I’ll be awaiting your next message! 

[kaysilyn]

Hi Jane. Thanks for the quick and thorough response. I am working on a PC, and I did do what Hoovey described several times, but it did not change anything.  I also restarted my computer to no avail.  However, I ended up re-installing dropbox and it now appears in the tray.  I'm not sure what happened, but I'm doing fine now.  Thanks again for your response.

[Jane]

Oh, great @kaysilyn, happy to hear that the re-installation did the trick for you this time, that’s some great news indeed!

I appreciate it that you kept our discussion here updated & it will be a pleasure to work with you again in the future. Happy syncing & a wonderful rest of your day! 

[Ros L.]

Where you say right click on the system tray, do you mean the taskbar? I have right clicked on the taskbar but the pop up list doesn't include properties, so cannot get any further with retrieving the icon.  

Thanks

[Ros L.]

I tried taskbar settings>choose which icons appear in the taskbar, but Droptox wasn't listed

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@Hoovey wrote:

Solution: as of Sep 15 2018, right click on taskbar in windows, select "Taskbar settings," and scroll down to section "Notification Area," and select "Select which Icons Appear on the Taskbar." here you should see DROPBOX and can turn it on! 

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[Ros L.]

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@Jane wrote:

Thanks for letting us know what worked for you @Hoovey! I’ve made sure to accept your last comment as the Best Answer, so that other users facing the same behavior could reference it in the future. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here again in case you have more thoughts or questions in the future. Take care until then! 

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Sadly it isn't working for me.  I have a Win 10 laptop, not one with upgraded software.  Until a week ago the icon was there but now it's gone.  So I cannot access settings at all and I want to have copies of a folder I have been invited to, accessible locally.  At present I am having to go to dropbox.com to view the folder contents as it wasn't on my sync list, and of course now I cannot get to dropbox settings at all since that appears not to be accessible in dropbox.com, and isn't in my dropbox folder, it was only accessible on the icon.

So this is something Dropbox as a company really needs to address.  Solutions that do seem t work for some people don't work for everybody, and settings are only accessible where the evasive icon is available

[Jane]

Hey there (@Ros L.), I understand that this may not be the ideal solution for you at the moment, though please bear in mind that installation issues like the one described on this thread may depend on other factors as well (i.e. other applications running in the background that could block our updates/ pending updates on your computer &c). For that reason, we try to look into each description in a bit more depth before advising, so I’ll start off from your last comment. 

It seems that the issue you’re facing pertains to your account setup & I’d advise troubleshooting it by re-installing our app (please reference the steps outlined below to get going with that): 

Spoiler

• Uninstall Dropbox: [Note: If Dropbox was installed by a Windows administrator in Program Files, you will need admin permissions to remove the application.]> Click on the Start button on the bottom left of your screen, and select "Control Panel" (Windows 7), or type Control Panel at the Start screen or start menu, and click on it (Windows 10, 8 ).> Click "Uninstall a Program". >Select Dropbox from the list of programs and click "Uninstall". 
• When the uninstall finishes, reboot your computer. This will make sure the uninstall is complete.  
• At that point, I’d suggest disabling any Security/Antivirus programs & give our offline installer a try: https://www.dropbox.com/downloading?plat=win&type=full (Windows)

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Where you say right click on the system tray, do you mean the taskbar?

That's right! Normally you should see the Dropbox icon towards the bottom right side on your screen. Do you see it there? Is it grayed out perchance? Does it display any messages? 

Please keep me updated on this discussion on how you get on with these steps or in case I’ve misunderstood your inquiry in any way & I’ll do my best to check back with you asap. Thanks & I’m looking forward to hearing back from you on this discussion! 

[Ros L.]

Hi Jane

The icon used to be there, and I expect still will be on my old Win7 laptop, so that is where I've been accustomed to seeing it and using it for years.  It was bottom right on this laptop until a few days ago and then suddenly gone.  No sign of it at all, not in the hidden icons tray either. I'm trying to attach a screenshot but getting an error message.  The same happened yesterday. (I am signed in) 

So anyway, no, no icon at all, grey or otherwise, and when I have tried what somebody else suggested, going to the taskbar settings and then choosing to display it - it quite simply isn't in the list.

All updates are installed.  Nothing pending.

Dropbox is in my start menu, I have tried pinning it to the taskbar but cannot open it from there either.  The only way I can find the Dropbox folder is by using whatever they call Windows Explorer nowadays and navigating the folders list.  That gives me no access to Dropbox settings though so I cannot update what I want synced.  Nor are there any Dropbox settings at dropbox.com

Big problem

Ros

[Jane]

Many thanks for the detailed description Ros (@Ros L.) , now I have a much better understanding of what this looks like on your end! To my mind, there’s either a third-party application blocking Dropbox from running as expected or something’s blocking our updates in the background. Would you mind giving the suggestions I included on my previous post's Spoiler (i.e. un-installing & re-installing anew) a go at your earliest convenience & let me know of the outcome in your next message?

Thanks again for taking the time to put together all this info for me & I’ll be awaiting your next update on the matter here!