Add option to disable icon overlays in Windows Explorer

luckyluke007

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye on that. Luckily, I don't use that feature very often.

I'm gonna try the registry ownership-to-lockout "fix" as I dont anticipate adding any new software that will use the overlays at this point.  I imagine between linkshellextension, the cloud providers i use, and tortoisesvn/git that covers it.  Anything newer would potentially be moving away from them and using the method onedrive uses that does not "cost" an overlay spot.   Since the number of overlays alotted is evidently a major job to fix, microsoft deemed it easier to change the way theyre handled and I'm assuming software developers are aware and will follow suit.

The new icloud software from apple uses the new system as well.   AKA, dropbox either needs to make it possible to stop the leapfrogging or change to the new system.

I use "some" of the dropbox overlays, but when you have a total of i think 14 usable, taking up 10 every update is obnoxious.  A checkbox checkbox that says dont modify that registry key after the initial install is probably easy as can be to implement. 

I'm getting ready to buy a Dropbox work account for my company. In general, I've been happy with Dropbox, but this one issue is almost a deal breaker. As others have said...the status of SVN folders is much more important to me than Dropbox folders.

They obviously must employ many coders so they have to deal with this themselves. How can this not be fixed by now??? 

Dropbox...PLEASE get your act together and take care of this.

it's not a feature request - it is a BUG.

Nevertheleess i pressed the vote button.

Please, fix it.

I find the little green checkmarks intrusive, also.  We don't need to see anything when a file or folder is synced.  Most files are synced most of the time. It's sufficient to show an overlay when a file is not synced.  Even a not-synced overlay should be something that can be switched off.  You provide an app that is an alternative to File Explorer which can instantly provide that metadata if someone is managing their file system intensively.  Day to day, showing green checkmark overlays in File Explorer is worse than useless.  It's annoying.  Here's something you don't seem to get.  In my book, Dropbox has one job: storing my files in the cloud.  I do not want notes, a password vault, document signing, or any of the other fun toys you and other cloud services keep shoving at us.  I already have other apps for all of those tasks, and I am happy with them as they are.  You just need to do what you do as well as possible.

Bottom line:  I must uninstall Dropbox until this feature is included.  I use TortoiseSVN and I absolutely MUST see my Tortoise overlays to do my job.

I will access my dropbox from the web site until they change their evil ways.

Also: changing the names of the dropbox overlays in the registry only works until there is an update.  They will re-create the 15 _______Dropbox overlays every time.  I would imagine that if you use more spaces than dropbox it probably keeps adding spaces until they are first.

Way to piss off 50% of your users, DropBox.

Hello all,

I have a question about how many Icon Overlay Handlers Dropbox needs to function. I have Dropbox Ext1 Class all the way up to Dropbox Ext10 Class. My Windows Explorer is slow as heck. Which of these can I safely disable to see if this is the problem?

I appreciate the help.

Have a great day,

FatDog1

FatDog1 luckily, I've just finished setting up of newly installed Windows and when googling for regedit path I've stumbled upon this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shell_icon_overlay_identifiers

You can choose and leave whatever overlays you need most. You can even remove all of them, it will not affect Dropbox in any way.

However I'm  afraid that number of keys under "ShellIconOverlayIdentifiers" key has nothing to do with Windows Explorer performance, you should investigate bottleneck elsewhere.

Best regards,

Alex

Thanks!!