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Forum Discussion

baldoyler13's avatar
baldoyler13
New member | Level 2
3 months ago

How can I use an alias on Mac OS?

Because all the threads and mentions of Mac alias issues are long out of date here, I thought to ask again. And, in fact, aliases on my Mac (and in fact between my two Macs) have worked perfectly up until a week or so ago (it's 02 Sept 2024 now). At this moment, when I click on an alias to a file or folder on Dropbox (whether the alias too is in Dropbox or on the Mac desktop for instance), I get this error message: "Item “NAME OF ITEM alias” is used by macOS and can’t be opened." Not much to go on there. Has anyone found a solution? (I'm on Ventura 13.5.1, by the way, but not keen to upgrade to new OS unless it's essential -- every OS upgrade fixes six things and breaks half a dozen more!)

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

    Hi baldoyler13, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    In general, Dropbox doesn't support aliases, symlinks or junction points to other locations.

     

    As the aliases were working up until now, this wouldn't have been expected, so we wouldn't be able to provide much more information on this matter.

     

    I'll leave this thread open for other users to contribute their suggestions.

    • baldoyler13's avatar
      baldoyler13
      New member | Level 2
      Thanks, Jay. It’s worked perfectly for me since (checks email) 2011! so a shame if it suddenly stops working now. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that someone knows the solution.