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Forum Discussion

Peter R.42's avatar
Peter R.42
Helpful | Level 7
2 months ago

Duplicated Dropbox folder on Mac. Can I delete it?

I've somehow ended up with a main DropBox folder with the blue DB logo and with everything in it that's supposed to be there - all good.  But I also have a DropBox folder with yesterday's date in my Library-CloudStorage folder, with only parts of what is in the main folder and not syncing at all.

 

Where did this new folder come from and is it safe to delete it?   If I don't, I'm concerned I may accidentally edit a file from there rather than the folder that is syncing and current.  I've seen comments to the effect that the one without green checkmarks is safe to delete, but I had a lot of difficulty getting those to appear yesterday.

 

Thanks

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    2 months ago

    Hey Peter R.42!

     

    It's indeed a bit odd that a duplicated folder was created. 

     

    It sounds to me like it was a one-time incident that came from this transaction, but I don't think it's something that you did on your end, that caused it. 

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi Peter R.42, let's jump right into this! 

     

    Just to make sure we're on the same page there: where do you see your syncing icons? On the main Dropbox folder with the blue logo, or the one with yesterday's date? 

     

    The best way to go on about it would be to check the app's preferences and more specifically your Sync tab, and check the path of your Dropbox folder. 

     

    This is the one that should be syncing, and have all the icons, therefore you'd be good to go and delete any other paths. 

     

    I'll be waiting for your update! 

    • Peter R.42's avatar
      Peter R.42
      Helpful | Level 7

      Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. 

       

      The checkmarks are in the main folder.  My frustration yesterday was that the marks were not appearing, but I seem to have solved that issue by clicking on "make available offline". (Incidentally, it would be nice if that option were greyed out once a folder has in fact been made available offline, since seeing it there still makes me wonder). And that is the one that appears in Preferences-Sync as Library - CloudStorage - Dropbox.

       

      The other one is labeled "Dropbox (10-21-24 4/52 PM)" and does not have checkmarks. So from what you're saying, that is the one I can safely delete.  That is what I thought but I've had such hassles syncing everything after having to transfer everything to a new user account (for unrelated reasons) that I wanted to make sure.

       

      For my education, why was that duplicate folder created when I went through your process for moving things to Cloud Storage?  I have another Mac I need to do that on, and it might not have had the storage capacity for the duplicate files.

       

      Thanks again

      • Megan's avatar
        Megan
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hey Peter R.42!

         

        It's indeed a bit odd that a duplicated folder was created. 

         

        It sounds to me like it was a one-time incident that came from this transaction, but I don't think it's something that you did on your end, that caused it. 

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