Dropbox app blinking on top menu bar but not opening

[LilyLi]

I just downloaded the drop box app for Mac desktop. It downloaded fine but I cannot open the app from either the dock or through Applications. Furthermore in the top menu bar the dropbox icon keeps flashing every few mins. When I try to uninstall the app through Applications it says it cannot be uninstalled as it is currently open?!

[Lusil]

Hi @LilyLi. 

In order to fix this issue, would you mind opening the Activity Monitor utility on your computer, normally located under Applications > Utilities, to see if there are any other processes associated with Dropbox that may be preventing Dropbox from being removed from your device?

Once you have launched Activity Monitor, if you see any items that refer to Dropbox, or recognize any programs that you may have linked to Dropbox, could you please perform the following steps?

• Click on the line that references the process to select it
• Click on the 'X' at the top left corner of the screen. Be careful not to click on the 'X' that closes the window, but the one that will Force a process to quit.

After you've done so, you should be able to uninstall the desktop app and reinstall it (if you want to). 

Let me know how it goes!

[John H.139]

Hi, I have what seems to be the same problem. My mac desktop Dropbox app won't start properly. It starts to start, then blinks out. Then starts to start again. Stops. Seems bad. I can quit all Dropbox app-related activity only in Activity Monitor (although I have to be quick about zapping the processes because they blink on and off - kind of weird. If I zap them a few times they stop re-starting, it seems.) Anyway, I tried re-downloading and re-installing the app. But that didn't seem to work. Same blinking, fail-to-start misbehavior. Should my next step be to uninstall? And, if so, there is no need to uninstall all my gigs and gigs of files, right? Or do I have to uninstall everything - all the files - and then redownload them from Dropbox? I obviously just want to make sure I don't lose anything.

Thanks.

- John Holbo

[Lusil]

Hi @John H.139, thanks for checking in with us here. 

Initially, awesome work on the initial troubleshooting!

From here, could you check if you have a third party app, like a security app, that could be hindering or blocking the desktop app from running? 

For this reason, could you try temporarily disabling your antivirus and configuring your firewall to work with Dropbox? Maybe that will do the trick. 

Let me know what you find!

[John H.139]

Nope, nothing like that running. Everything was fine until today when it stopped working. Yesterday we had a power outage and the computer shut down improperly. That's the only recent event of note that might have induced it. I take it I need to do an uninstall/re-install. I just want to use best-practices with that. I know all my files won't go poof if I just uninstall. But I want to be sure that everything is fine after reinstall.

[John H.139]

I just went ahead and deleted the app, and all the Dropbox associated library files. And reinstalled and signed in again and it seems to be working fine. It's still syncing - checking my desktop files match the cloud - so I won't know if it's happy for hours, but, fingers-crossed, seems to have gone without a hitch.

[Lusil]

No worries, @John H.139. 

Keep me posted! 

[snmryan]

Hello ! I'm afraid I have the same trouble.  Dropbox used to work okay - but now I have issues!  

On my mac running High Sierra 10.13.6 I am trying to install and get dropbox working.

I can download and run but the icon in the menu bar flashes grey, I cannot access it to change any settings 

I am logged into dropbox on the web.  (I have actually changed out the folders as they were not syncing so I copied them from my computer to the web version...and did an external backup as well.  However they have not been syncing for some time without me noticing.....yikes!)

I have gone into security and privacy and made sure dropbox was ticked 

I have cleared anything in the activity monitor

I have uninstalled and reinstalled about 10 times now 😕

I have ensured that my Mac HD and User and {name} folder are all unlocked

not really sure what else to do....can you please help????

[Lusil]

Hey @snmryan, thanks for nudging us on this thread, and sorry to hear that you're also having trouble with this. 

Could you try temporarily closing any third party apps, including any antivirus and security software, that could be affecting the startup process of the desktop app? 

If you've already tried that, could you hover over the Dropbox icon and confirm what it shows? 

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

[snmryan]

Hello Lusil.  Thankyou so much for responding to my query and sorry for the delay!

I have no third party software that seems to be runnin nor do I have a firewall or security currently running. 

When the dropbox app blinks grey in the menu bar I can click on it for the two seconds its is there and the box shows just the flahsing connection logo and it says connecting at the bottom.   I have no idea how to proceed and really appreciate your help.