I work on a Mac. Whenever I click the Dropbox desktop app, finder opens instead of the app. Because of this I also cannot get to the preferences of the app either. Even if I right click the app on the doc, I do not get any settings. Just finder opens up and at the top bar of the finder there isn’t the dropbox icon to get preferences or change where files are synced. I would just like the app back, no more finder access.

I had to restart my computer to get the Dropbox app to open (in order to get to preferences), but I was able to change it to opening on the Desktop app, so I am hoping that worked!

DropBox App not opening. Only Finder opens.

janetk
New member | Level 2
3 years ago
The finder-only option is rough. I have two dropbox accounts (a personal account and a work account). In order to change accounts via desktop, I had to uninstall and reinstall dropbox on my m1 mac. Is there any workaround to change accounts?
aewen
Helpful | Level 5
4 years ago
This is happening to me as well, as of this morning. I restarted my Mac and it opened the app, but once I clicked out of it, it never opened again. Let me know if you find anything out.
- Hannah
  Dropbox Staff
  4 years ago
  Hey Daniella1 and aewen, thanks for reaching out to us!
  
  Can you try going to the Dropbox application's preferences and from the 'general' tab, change the 'open folders in' setting to 'Dropbox desktop app' and let me know if it works?
  
  Thanks!
  - mf2022
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago
    Hello. My Dropbox icon in the tools bar (on Mac) does not have that "open in" option under Preferences- General. Please advise.
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
4 years ago
Thanks for the update, that's perfect!

You should be good now.

If you need anything else, make sure to give us a shout!
- aewen
  Helpful | Level 5
  4 years ago
  Alright, Hannah. Round two! I am on my laptop now and even when restarting my computer, I cannot get it to open the Dropbox app. Therefore, I cannot get to Dropbox preferences to change the setting to Desktop app. Something has to be wrong if it is continuing to mess up....
  - Jay
    Dropbox Staff
    4 years ago
    Hi aewen, just to clarify, do you see the Dropbox icon appear in the menu bar near the clock? What message do you get if you hover over it?
Jay
Dropbox Staff
4 years ago
No worries, glad to hear you were able to change the preferences. Let me know if you have any further queries in future.

Enjoy your weekend!
- dartie
  New member | Level 2
  3 years ago
  Unfortunately none of the above is working for me. I am unable to get the Dropbox app to open and NO it's not appearing in the menu bar. I have tried many things including:
  - restarting the MacBook Pro (M1 chip)
  - adding Dropbox to permissions in system preferences
  - deleting Dropbox and downloading a new version.
  I've noticed that my OneDrive is also having the same issues.
- meecs
  New member | Level 2
  3 years ago
  I'm having this issue too! Anyone have ideas on how to fix it? When I go into preferences I don't get have "open folders in" as an option.
  - Mark
    Super User II
    3 years ago
    Unfortunately meecs this is a change in the product - the Dropbox software you saw on the computer was depreciated on the 17th of Jan. As such the only choice and option now is to open finder.
Marcellon
New member | Level 2
3 years ago
I was able to get to preferences by clicking the Dropbox icon on the top bar and clicking my picture and then selecting preferences. I deselected all the items and thought that would put all those items online only. They are still on my hard disk. Do I have to erase all these documents and folders?
- Megan
  Dropbox Staff
  3 years ago
  Hi Marcellon, welcome to our Community!
  
  Can you clarify a bit more as to the settings and items you unchecked during this process?
  
  Which feature are you referring to? Provided you're talking about Smart sync, you would need to follow these steps in order for your content to be online only.
  
  Let me know more.