Dropbox icon will not stay in Notification Area of Windows 10 Taskbar

[tfd0926]

I am used to always seeing the Dropbox icon in the Notification Area of the Windows Taskbar.  But for the last few weeks, it refuses to keep that as the default. I want it to stay there, because seeing it (and certain other icons) in "ready" mode are how I tell when it's safe for me to start MY work.

Every time I boot up, I have to go into Taskbar Settings, then under "Notification Area" click on "Select which icons appear on the taskbar".  There, I find two entries.  Both are titled "Dropbox", but one has a 2nd line that says "Dropbox 146.4.4836 Up to date".  One of those (usually the 2-line entry) has been turned off.  Whichever one happens to be off, I must turn it back on to get the Dropbox icon "permanently" visible again. 

At the end of my session, if I put the pc in "hibernate", the settings stay put when I start the pc back up again.  But every time I do a full shutdown, one or both of those settings is lost and must be reset the next time I boot up.

And again, this failure has only been happening for the last 3 or 4 weeks.  Before that, it had never happened in all the years I've used DropBox.  Is this some issue with the last DropBox update?  Or perhaps a conflict with the latest Win10Pro update?  (I've already tried asking Microsoft, but they had no clue.)

Can anyone shed some light on this and - if possible on my end - help me fix it?

[Hannah]

Hey @tfd0926, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please open the Dropbox app preferences and see if the 'start Dropbox on system startup' option is checked?

To find the preferences, click on that Dropbox icon in your system tray, then on your initials/profile pic and then on 'preferences'.

If it's already checked, uninstalling and reinstalling the application might help.

Just, if you have a free account, make sure you have less than 3 devices linked to your account, before uninstalling.

Let me know how it goes!

[LuigiP]

Anyone else having this issue, as soon I turn my computer on and load dropbox it shows and then disappears to to the hidden icons section. You got to taskbar options to make sure it appears on the main toolbar and next time its back in the hidden icons section.

But what I have noticed is there are two different dropbox options in the system menu

1. Dropbox

2. Dropbox (146.4.4836 Up to date)

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this

[Jay]

Hi @LuigiP, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Have you recently made any updates to Windows 10?

Could you attach a screenshot showing what you're referring to in the system menu?

This will help me to assist further!

[LuigiP]

Yes windows is completely up to date.

Attached are the photos

[Jay]

If you enable both Dropbox mentions in the system menu, does it help at all with the taskbar icon?

[LuigiP]

How is the solution always to uninstall the app and reinstall it. Its only been an issue since the last dropbox update.

Dropbox makes an update, it breaks something why cant they fix the issue in another update.

[LuigiP]

And in answer to your question Jay, no it does not when you restart it always goes back to how it was.

[Jay]

Hi @LuigiP, thanks for the info, I'd recommend getting in contact with the support team directly for further assistance on this matter.

Once you get a ticket ID from the automated response, please let me know the number here so I can locate it in our system.

[tfd0926]

Thank you, Hannah, for your reply. 

Yes, the 'start Dropbox on system startup' option is checked.

If I uninstall Dropbox and re-install it, what happens to the files I have that currently 'live' in the Dropbox folders?  (I keep files there that I want to access from both my desktop and my laptop.)   Do I have to move everything out and then start over from scratch after reinstalling?

And if, as someone else said, this issue started with a Dropbox update, is there not a better way to fix it?