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Forum Discussion

Questions13's avatar
Questions13
Helpful | Level 5
6 months ago

Moving files out of Dropbox now defaults to the 'copy' function

Starting sometime this week, whenever I try to move a file out of my Dropbox to another location on the same drive, it will default to 'copy' and leave the original still in Dropbox. This duplication...
Delete
Desktop
Dropbox Basic
Organize
  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    3 months ago

    Hi Everybody,

     

    Thanks for your patience while we looked into this. This change in behavior was the result of a change by Microsoft. Dragging a folder out of a root sync folder now defaults to the copy function on Windows 11. This change is not limited to Dropbox, but any root sync folder.

     

    As a workaround, shift+click and drag will allow the expected cut + paste or "move folder" functionality.

     

    Regards,

    Ben

Yuikol's avatar
Yuikol
Experienced | Level 12

Windows 11

Dropbox v203.4.4857

 

So before on my machine when I went to move a file out of dropbox onto my desktop it would remove it from my dropbox. I liked this to keep my files organized and limit versions, they are mostly unimportant files too. Today I just noticed that selecting and dragging a file onto my desktop just copied it. I don't see a setting to change this. Did this change, can I change it back? 

Rich's avatar
Rich
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
5 months ago
Yuikol wrote:

... when I went to move a file out of dropbox onto my desktop it would remove it from my dropbox. ... Today ... dragging a file onto my desktop just copied it.

This process is controlled by your operating system; not Dropbox. On your computer, Dropbox is just a folder like any other, and behaves as any other folder.

  • Yuikol's avatar
    Yuikol
    Experienced | Level 12
    5 months ago

    Downloads folder, documents folder, etc. are acting correctly. They move the file, not copy it. Only Dropbox is acting differently now. I'm not finding any settings related to this when I look in the Windows Setting app or in the file explorer options. 

     

    Just seeing this now. I can "move" a file into Dropbox without copying it, but taking it out makes a copy.

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