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Computer Backup
41 Topics
Turning on dropbox backup but folder name is weird
I had tested the Dropbox Backup feature in the past so I know that when turned on my Computers should be added as My Mac (Unique Mac Name). I decided to turn it back on again when setting up two new Macs that I have but the backup now creates the folders as just Mac, Mac (2), Mac (3) I've gone through the steps of unlinking Dropbox from each computer. Checking their names in System Preferences and also in the Security tab of my Dropbox account. The computer names are correct in Dropbox but the backup feature is still creating the folders as just MacSolved15KViews10likes56Comments
How do I delete Backups in Dropbox?
Hello, I've been trying to find out what is taking space in my Dropbox. When I go to Manage account it says I have 11.8 GBs of Backups out of 15 GB. However I cannot actually find out what backup this is nor delete it. All the steps I've checked on the site talks about installing a Desktop App then going to Sync and Backup. However there's no such thing. I'm using the latest Dropbox app downloaded from Dropbox website and running on Windows 11. Also if I go to Dropbox app in the taskbar and then click on my account name then go to Preferences there's an option for the tab called Backups. However this tab opens up just the folders however I've not selected any folders to be backed up. There's no way to actually delete backups. I've tried unlinking all devices from my account, deleting all files in the directories and still there's this 11GB just missing. Why can't Dropbox app just show what is taking the space and have an option to delete it?Solved7.8KViews4likes17Comments
No Longer Able to Create Shared Links
This afternoon, I was in Windows Explorer and tried as I have many times before to create a link to share a file. However, the option to create a link was no longer available. After restarting my computer and having the same experience, I logged in using my web browser and found that I couldn't create a shared link from there either. I then contacted Support and they had me restart Dropbox, etc., but nothing restored the create a shared link option. While online with Support on my Windows machine, I logged in to Dropbox using my MacBook's web browser, and saw the following message: "Sharing for backed up files is going away". Their explanation was that "To help prevent accidental sharing, we've removed the option to share files directly from backup." They then went on to say that "You can still share with others by dragging files into your dropbox.com folder." This is totally ridiculous, as one of the reasons I signed up for Dropbox is the ability to directly share files from Windows Explorer (or Finder in the macOS). With that removed, Dropbox isn't that different from iDrive, where you create a shared folder and use that to share documents (iDrive is what I left to join Dropbox). It should be up to the user how and where they want to share files. If I accidently share a file, that is my problem, and taking that option away to protect people from doing so makes this service far less than it was when I signed up. I also just paid for a full year's subscription about 6 weeks ago and inquired as to whether or not I could get a partial refund since the current service is NOT what I signed up for. As you could imagine, the response was "No". I urge everyone who is having this issue to flood Support to get Dropbox to reverse this stupid decision. In the meantime, I I'll be evaluating other options to see if there's anything that can give me what I'm looking for.2.7KViews2likes7Comments
DropBox Takes over the Documents folder
i am having this issue with a mac mini M1 - i am running the beta software that is supposed to work with the M1. I migrated data only using the migration assistant built into macs. Dropbox takes over my documents folder as soon as a sign in and the path changes showing it is now a dropbox folder - after doing a migration that folder is empty and if i restore to that folder the files disappear within a few minutes. I am likely saying goodbye as i am fed up with poor mac support and poor support in general. I spent 4 hours chatting with their support people BEFORE i did the migration because i anticipated issues and sure enough the issues are real.Solved6.2KViews2likes13Comments
How can I cancel my computer backup?
I apparently selected pc backup when I installed Dropbox and naturally I'm out of storage on my Dropbox account now. I don't want and have no need to have my pc backed up to it. I have the desktop app but am not able to find the preferences section to stop it from backing up. I did try just deleting My PC from Dropbox but a message comes up and says if I delete "My PC" it says it will be removed from my Dropbox and from the computer. If I delete it in Dropbox, does that mean I'll lose everything on my laptop too? Sorry if it sounds like a newbie question but I am. 🙂 Any help stopping the PC backup would be greatly appreciated.Solved25KViews2likes58Comments
How to delete a backup?
Hi, I recently logged on and found that my Dropbox folder was full (2GB). On investigation this was because an old laptop was being backed up. I removed it using the desktop app preferences yesterday, but the files have still not been deleted. It does not appear in the list of linked devices on my account either. How on earth do I delete the files and make Dropbox usable again?Solved1.8KViews1like5Comments
How can I use Dropbox without Syncing everything on all of my devices?
I've just logged in to dropbox and everything on my PC has now been synced to Dropbox. If I unsync it, it logs me out. If I log back in it just resyncs. I've deleted files from my Dropbox and it's deleted them from my PC. Does anybody know how to prevent this please?2.6KViews1like3CommentsDropbox backup deleting the original files on my backed up PC.
If this is the way Dropbox backup is going to work I may seek a different solution. Dropbox didn't just make a backup copy, it removed the files from my PC so that there is not a local copy. Is there a setting that I haven't found or is it intended to work this way? Please let me know as this is not an acceptable approach.Solved3.8KViews1like23Commentshow to STOP all automatic syncing
I want to stop all automatic syncing. I accidentally allowed this when migrating to a new device and it's ruining my life. All the support I can find is to fix sync failures. I want to STOP ALL and only manually add files to drop box. I have deleted the desktop app. Thanks!Solved7.6KViews1like8CommentsDropbox computer backup: how to undo?
I uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox because of some issues with syncing. In reinstalling, I thought I clicked on "no, I don't want dropbox to backup my computer" but apparently I clicked wrong because it started a backup that I couldn't stop in any way besides using the Pause Sync option. So I let it back it up all the way and then turned off the automatic backup on the website, hoping it will delete the backup, but it didn't. Now I have a backup of my computer on dropbox, which I don't want, and I can't just delete the folder because it deletes things in my computer too. I tried with a couple of files, and deleting them in Dropbox deletes the original file, almost as if it's not a copy. It also doesn't take up any space on Dropbox. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me, can you help me?Solved5.5KViews1like12Comments
