MacOS Dropbox folder location change and free disk space discrepancy

[VaughanS]

Apparently Apple started requiring File Providers like Dropbox to move their folders to ~user/library/cloudstorage, leaving only a folder alias at the original location. This caused problems in the beginning with file searches but these finally got sorted out. What is strange is that I recently replaced my laptop and after reinstalling Dropbox, the new default folder location is where it originally was, not in library/cloudstorage, and it's no longer an alias. I'd like to change this on my [older] home computer but I'm not sure if this is wise or even supported. I should mention that I'm running the newest Dropbox beta release, and the Dropbox helpdesk is encouraging me to reinstall Dropbox using the latest 'stable' build and not the beta. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Second issue is a question of free disk space. I use PathFinder instead of the Mac Finder but these two utilities give different values for the remaining free space on disk. When determining the amount of free space, the Mac Finder seems to ignore the Dropbox folder entirely wherever it might be whereas PathFinder does include it. In other words, the Mac Finder [erroneously] lists an additional amount of free space equivalent to the size of the Dropbox folder. The Mac Disk Utility agrees with PathFinder's assessment of the amount of free space. Does anyone understand why this happens?

[Hannah]

Hey @VaughanS, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community and happy Monday!

Regarding the Dropbox folder location on the new Dropbox for macOS version of the Dropbox app,  changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported due to a requirement from Apple that all cloud storage provider folders be moved to the user’s Library folder.

However, I believe you'll find some useful info on this here.

About your storage space, is your Dropbox folder currently set to online-only? 

Or do you also have files that are available offline, which appear to not take up hard drive space?

Keep me posted.

[VaughanS]

Thanks for your reply, Hannah. I knew about the storage provider requirements from Apple. I was just surprised that a new installation of dropbox on a new computer placed the default dropbox folder directly in the users folder and not in library/cloudstorage. Looking at the dropbox preferences on this new installation, it looks as though it has reverted to the dropbox system before Apple changed the requirements. I'm changing this now. And you were right. The files were set to online only, despite my thinking that it was set to be available online. I'm changing this, too. After all this is completed, I'll let you know about how the two Finder utilities report the free disk space.

[VaughanS]

I meant offline. Sorry!

[VaughanS]

OK, all's updated and works well. I'm still curious why Finder reports 171 GB of free disk space and PathFinder 133.5 GB. 

[VaughanS]

The dropbox folder in cloudstorage is 47.1 GB so that only partially accounts for the free space difference. Disk Utility also reports 133.5 GB free. What's the problem with the Mac Finder?

[Jay]

Hi @VaughanS, we wouldn't really be able to shed more light on why two different file managers provide different results. 

If Finder is providing wrong information, then you could try contacting Apple for further clarification on this matter.