Post malware Admin controls prevent Dropbox on File Manager

[techedteacher]

Baltimores Malware last spring is cured. But we see many more restrictions understandably.    But since restored I cannot see Dropbox files in Windows10-64  File Manager.  So I lug back and forth from a DB tab in Chrome. 

I rquested a full Admin DB install which they did. DB shows up on 3 lines in Program Manager. But no folders or files in my native File Manager. 

Before I ask Admin to try again I want to make sure Ive done all I can here. 

[Lusil]

Hey there @techedteacher, 

Welcome to the Dropbox Community! I'd be more than happy to help look into this. 

As a first step, could you confirm if you see the Dropbox icon in your system tray? 

If you don't, it means that the desktop app isn't running and you'll need to manually relaunch it from the applications menu. 

If you do see it, could you let me know what you see when you hover over it? 

Thanks in advance!

[techedteacher]

Lusil,

Thank you for quick response. If System Tray is the pop-up box in lower right next to date, Dropbox is no in there. 

Frank

[techedteacher]

BTW this is a DropBox Bussiness Advanced account.  Works at home and on my work Laptop. 

[Lusil]

Thanks for your swift response as well, @techedteacher!

The system tray appears at the bottom of the screen and the Dropbox icon should be next to (or somewhere on that bar at least) your computer's clock.

If you don't see the Dropbox icon, it could be automatically hidden by Windows and you'll have to click on the small white arrow ( ^ ) to show all system tray icons. 

If it's not there either, it means that the app isn't running. To manually open it go to the Start menu and find the Dropbox app from the list of applications. 

Let me know how it goes!

[techedteacher]

Found it.

"Dropbox 82.4.155
Waiting to be linked in to a Dropbox account..."

I have no Idea what my PW is. 'Forgot Password' and just changed it.
So now im logged in on Chrome tabs as I could before, but still not on Win10 File Manager on work Desktop - with serious Admin controls. 

[techedteacher]

And same Waiting to be linked in Sys Tray

[Lusil]

One step down, @techedteacher!

When you do click on the Dropbox icon, do you see the option to enter your credentials by any chance? 

[techedteacher]

Wow, That worked.  THANKS but now many questions. 

It said I have a very large DB. True.  Will Use Locally and Use On-Line look the same in file manager?  Takes up local disk space?  I only use a tiny tiny fraction of all saved files. Giant files and photo sets I'll never need. 

What is recommended?

I actually chose Local and it took some time for all folders to fully apear in File Manager/Dropbox drive.  I assume files are updated here when my team mates make changes, phantom downloads?   So is this like a back-up?  (we just took 12 weeks to recover from Ransom so Back-up is good) 

Or will this fill up my local drive and cause alarm my IT Admin and scanners?  
How to go back to On-line only now? 

Again Thank you Lusil   

[Lusil · Accepted solution]

Glad to hear that we were able to resolve your initial concern, @techedteacher! 

At first, I wanted to note that, yes, when files are edited by other members of a shared folder or a team folder, those will need to be indexed so that the relevant changes appear to your end too. 

From what I understand, your main pain point here is your hard drive's space. 

If you want to free up some storage on your computer, you can use Smart Sync and/or selective sync. both of which are space-saving features, it just depends on what you want to do with your content. 

More specifically, with Smart Sync, when you save files as:

• Local: they will take their full amount on your hard drive. 
• Online-only: those files will still appear in your desktop app and Finder, but they will take up miniscule amounts of space. 

For example, a file could be 1 GB. As local, it will take up 1 GB of storage on your computer. As online-only, it will take up a few KBs, instead. 

If you don’t need a whole folder on your computer though, you can even selectively sync it. What that does is it removed a folder from your Dropbox folder and desktop app, but keeps it in your account. Should you need it locally at a later time, you can just re-sync it. 

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any follow up questions. Thanks!