Dropbox desktop starts and stops - keeps showing up in menu bar as gray, then disappears.

[TRehm]

I've been using Dropbox for years, but recently, I've had to uninstall and reinstall it every month or so because it starts up, the Dropbox icon will appear in my menu bar and say "Starting..." but then disappears. It isn't syncing and if I close the program and restart, or restart the computer, it doesn't fix it. The latest version is installed.

[Daphne]

Hey there @TRehm, I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with this!

So I can have a bit of a better idea of your current set up, can you let me know which OS version your computer is running?

Also, just to make sure that you're not using the beta version of the desktop app can you check in your account settings here and see if the option "Early releases" is toggled off towards the bottom?

Let me know and we can go from there!

[TRehm]

Hello! Thanks so much for replying.

I'm using Windows 8.1. For a bit more info, I will see the Dropbox icon appear on my system tray, start to connect, sometimes can right click and get the options to show, but then it shuts off or will say "Smart Sync is having trouble connecting..." and then disappear. It will keep doing that endlessly until I quit Dropbox. Upon restart, it will start trying again and the same thing happens. I can't access the Dropbox managment dashboard or adjust any settings in Dropbox, like selective sync.

I did have the early release option turned on in my Dropbox, but have turned it off. It says the current version is 98.3.151.

Thanks!

[Daphne · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the info @TRehm!

It looks like you're running a beta version of the desktop app there, denoted xx.3.xxx. I'd suggest downgrading to the latest stable build to see if that helps with the issue that you're having here.

To do this, please visit your account settings here and toggle off the "Early releases" option towards the bottom of the page. Then, you can just download and install the latest stable version from here.

Once you have ran the installer I'd suggest restarting the desktop app or your computer too if you'd like and see if that helps the app pass the startup process.

Let me know how it goes!

[TRehm]

Thank you! So far, so good, and will reach out if it happens again now that the early releases are not being updated.

[Daphne]

I'm glad to hear that @TRehm!

Indeed, if the issue crops up again then please feel free to give me a nudge here.

Have a great day and stay safe!