You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Backup folder name change
Hello! I have 2 macs, one personal and one for work. Both had backup enabled and when I went online, I saw both computers' backup directories. The directories were both in the format of "My Mac (comp...
Hi @Hannah,
As it is currently set up, the naming convention is confusing and inconvenient and it is in a critical place of the software. Distinguishing computers from each other is a challenge even with small numbers and there seems to be no way of identifying the computers except for comparing files.
We need a renaming function that works without removing the computers, I would go so far as to call it broken in its current state.
Add me to the feedback list and additionally try to alert someone in the dev team to this.
All the best,
Samuli
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffThanks guys for the nudges here.
I'm afraid there's currently no way to change the names of the backup folders.
You're welcome to post an idea about this on our idea board, though, for others to upvote.
I'm afraid there's currently no way to change the names of the backup folders.
You're welcome to post an idea about this on our idea board, though, for others to upvote.
- I'm sorry, but the idea board concept is a dead end. It only attracts specific demographic and severely distorts the view that a company gets from its userbase. I have seen it multiple times and it only acts as a graveyard for great ideas.
Please submit this subject as a severe bug, as that is what it really is.
Best regards,
Samuli- I have to agree. Where’s the product manager when you need them??
I have this problem too! I agree with the other users that this is something to be adreessed ASAP
This is ridiculous. I just got 2 new Mac's and expected them to be in the same naming convention as all my other Mac backups "My Mac (JSMs-MBP.local)" but now I cannot tell which Mac is 1 or 2. Why would you change this simple feature!?!
- This has been going on for a few years now. Dropbox isn’t paying attention to the fact that many users are complaining about this issue. And I don’t buy that this is working as described.
Great Dropbox
You lost another customer here.
In 2 years not being able to ONLY put a "feature" of renaming a **bleep** folder is just ridiculous!
Bla bla bla since 2 whole years.
Hi Google, here I come!
Please pass along that as another long-time Dropbox loyalist the backup folders should be able to be changed. If nothing else, they should take on the Computer Name and append (2), (3), etc only if multiple backups are found with the same name.
In my case, I told Dropbox just now to inherit my old backup but instead it created a new backup "Mac (2)" and even after unlinking the original computer and deleting the "Mac" folder my current backup presists with the name "Mac (2)". Really though I should be able to change this folder to any name. If it requires a restart that's fine.
Thanks.
Like I said earlier, isn't product management paying attention to what their customers are asking for? That's the whole point of their department at a software company (I should know - I've been in product management for 6 years). Listen to what the customers want and prioritize. It's clear from this thread that this requested feature is getting some traction. And as someone mentioned earlier, it looks a bit weird naming these directories PC (1) and PC (2).
I have two Macs - one for work and one for home. Both were named Mac (1) and Mac (2). Then I had to replace both. I had removed Dropbox from both machines, removing the backup of the desktop, downloads and documents directory. Those directories then disappeared from Dropbox. Now with the new machines, Dropbox has added directories Mac (6) and Mac (8). That's insane.
Please look into this and consider this for a future upgrade.
This has become pretty ridiculous! Renaming backup folders or at least inheriting the PC name is a feature that MUST be resolved! For those of us with multiple PCs it is a SIGNIFICANT problem that impacts ease of use. Where and how does Dropbox derive the PC name? My PC is named and when linked to Dropbox shows the computer name in linked devices however the backup folder is always PC or PC (#). I have tried disabling backup, unlinking and restarting Dropbox but the applications continues to attach the backup folder to "PC". This worked at one point as I have several older computers (Windows 10) that have the actual computer name as the backup folder but my Windows 11 machines continue to use this generic naming convention. With the number of questions and complaints about this issue it would seem that it is of high concern for Dropbox users and should be addressed ASAP!
