I NEED HELP!!

[Aaronbloomer]

I need to unsync Dropbox from my Mac. It’s affects a software I use for work. If I completely uninstall the app I’m in fear of losing all of my files from my computer. All to be locked on the cloud. The problem is when I go to preferences and then to the account tab, I don’t have the option to unsync? I only have the option to sign out. I cannot lose these files please please help me out I am on a deadline and need this fixed. I appreciate any response.

[Walter]

Hello @Aaronbloomer; welcome to the Community!

If you made sure you're fully synced, meaning that the app shows 'up to date' in your menu bar, then you can unlink your account through the app's preferences or even completely uninstall the app.

This will not affect your files in Dropbox in any way and your Dropbox folder will become a normal, local folder on your computer just like any other. 

I hope this makes sense and please let us know if you have any more questions, Aaron!

[Aaronbloomer]

Thank you for responding! So I guess my ultimate worry is having my files removed from my computer. When I synced my computer, it made every file associate/link with Dropbox. If a creat a new file on my desktop and check it’s preferences it’s automatically linked to Dropbox. I don’t want anything thing on my computer to change. I just can no longer have the app or have my files synced to Dropbox unfortunately. Only thing is when I go to preferences and account on the app I only have the option to sign out of Dropbox.

[Walter]

It sounds like you enabled the computer backup feature upon installing the desktop app on your device, Aaron.

In that case, you can follow these steps to disable it.

Let me know how you get on!

[Aaronbloomer]

Just tried this. when I go to preferences and open the backups tab I have the option to set up back ups, but not to manage it. A few days ago when the problem started I deleted the app from my desktop(which obviously didn’t help) and then redownloaded it, realizing my problem was that my computer is still synced to Dropbox. I’m wondering if maybe deleting the app and then downloading it again may be a reason why the backups tab isn’t manageable?

[Walter]

Most likely, yes, Aaron.
 
Can you try unlinking this device from your account's security page and let me know if it helped improve matters?

[Aaronbloomer]

I was able top unlink my mac on the security page. however Im not sure of what that did. or rather where to go from here. it gave me a notification that it has will stoped syncing, which is great. but when i open the app on my computer it asks me to log in and once i do, it automatically starts to sync all of my files again. also i still don't have an option to stop backups. but I'm wondering if thats necessary? once i unlink from the security page,  am i safe to completely uninstall dropbox without losing my files from my computer?

[Daphne]

From what you've mentioned @Aaronbloomer, it seems that the backup is indeed disabled, but since you didn't initially follow the steps to disable the backup the files remained in Dropbox.

Can you navigate to the "My Mac" folder within the Dropbox folder, and try just moving the files within to another location on your computer?

If you want to stop using the desktop app altogether on your computer, you can just unlink the account as you did before and uninstall the app again. 

You'll still need to try the steps above to move the files out of the Dropbox folder location if you remove the app, as this won't make any changes to the Dropbox folder on your computer.

[Aaronbloomer]

Okay I unsync es and successfully uninstalled Dropbox from my Mac. Now I’d like to get rid of the Dropbox folder in my user documents. However, My Dropbox folder on my Mac has my documents, downloads and desktop folder within them still. If I delete that folder is it’s going to delete all of those files right? I’m not sure where to move those files because wherever I move them that still appear in the Dropbox folder since all of my folder are technically still in the Dropbox folder. Is the only option to use an external drive to copy them into, then Proceed to delete the Dropbox folder and then copy them all back from the hard drive?

[Daphne]

I've just reached out to the email linked with your profile here @Aaronbloomer, so that we can check on this in more detail through our Support channel.

When you have the chance, please check your inbox and get back to me there!