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

taballe's avatar
taballe
New member | Level 1
16 days ago

Installed 214.3.5140 and the behavior when I take a screenshot changed

Hi,

I have this update installed.  My Dropbox screenshot behavior has recently changed, and I have not changed anything.  I save all screenshots with Dropbox.  In the past few days, the new behavior is that when I hit print screen button, I get a preview of the screenshot in the bottom right corner of my desktop. The Dropbox icon appears in the taskbar.  It steals focus. If I wait like 10 seconds, the preview finally closes.  This is EXTREMELY disruptive.  I have checked my preferences, and there is no setting for disabling this.  Google says that there is supposed to be a setting for it, but when I go to the Dropbox Help, I can't find any information about it.  I also saw (with Google) that there is something called "Dropbox Capture" that seems to have similar behavior, but I have not installed that - EVER.

Please help. 

Thanks!

  • Hi Walter,

    It seems that using the dropbox.com/installs/upgrade-latest-version page got me the latest beta.... :(

    I was finally able to download the latest stable client build - 214.4.5217.  I was able to find it by googling "Dropbox forum latest stable client build."  Is it supposed to be that hard? 

    After installing 214.4.5217, I see that the issue is fixed.  The usual/normal behavior is back: I press Print Screen and the screenshot is saved to my Dropbox Screenshots folder, but I don't get that annoying little preview of the screenshot in the bottom right corner of my Windows desktop.  It therefore seems that this was a "feature" in the beta... If it was intentional, then they haven't gotten it quite right yet... It needs a setting for toggling the preview on/off.  :)

    I did turn off the early access toggle switch.

    Please confirm/correct any questions/assumptions in this post and my previous post.  :)

    Thank you.

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    Control Panel shows an install date of 12/11/24 for Dropbox 214.3.5140.  It doesn't say "beta". I am not sure if Dropbox puts the word beta in its build names or not... Just clarifying.

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

      Hi there taballe - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

      Just to make sure we're on the same page, are you referring to this feature?

      Also, can you clarify your computer's exact OS version for us?

      Thanks!

      PS: The middle digit of the app's version means that it's a beta version (3 is for beta versions and 4 is for stable ones). 

      • taballe's avatar
        taballe
        New member | Level 1

        Hi Walter,

        Thanks for explaining what the 3 means. :)

        I have two laptops. Both have Dropbox on them.  Whenever I press "print screen" on either laptop, the screenshot goes to the "Dropbox (Personal)"\Screenshots folder, which I can access from either laptop.

        One is running Windows 10 Pro (latest update was KB5048652); the other is running Windows 10 Home (latest update was KB5048239).

        The first screenshot shows what my Preferences window looks like on Windows 10 Pro. I am including it because this does not appear to match the page you sent me to with the "this feature" link in your response (i.e., there is a Screenshots tab).  

        Note:  My Preferences window on the OTHER laptop doesn't have the Screenshots tab at all.

        The second screenshot is a screenshot of what happens after I take the first screenshot.   See the preview in the bottom right?  It steals focus, which is super intrusive because I do keyboard testing.

        A few days ago, this behavior started... and it happens no matter which laptop I use to take the screenshot.

         

         

        The third screenshot shows what my Preferences window looks like on the Windows 10 Home machine.  Note that there is no "Screenshots" tab, and that the Backups tab doesn't say anything about screenshots (which the page you directed me to says it should).

        I have been using this feature for many, many years.  I can't even remember when I set it up, but it works very well.  

        Thank you in advance for your assistance.

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    Hi Hannah,

    >> There isn't really a setting for this within the Dropbox preferences; 

    Yes, there is.  Please look up at the screenshot that has the Dropbox Preferences window.  It has a Screenshots tab, and I have the "Save Screenshots to Dropbox" toggle switch set to on.  That is a Dropbox window, not a Windows window.

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

      Could you maybe quit the Dropbox desktop app and take a screenshot while it's not running? Do you get any different results perhaps?

      If you could also clarify how exactly you're taking the screenshot (which keys you're pressing), I'd appreciate it.

      In any case, please keep us posted taballe 

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    Hi Walter,

    I take screenshots by pressing the "Print Screen" key.

    I just quit the Dropbox app on the Windows 10 Pro machine, then pressed "Print Screen".    No screenshot was put in the Screenshot folder, and I got no preview of the screenshot in the bottom right corner of my desktop.  I expected this behavior, obviously, because I turned off Dropbox.

    Next suggestion, please. :)

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    By the way... I forgot to mention that when you take a screenshot on machine A, a Dropbox notification appears on machine B, telling you that you added a screenshot.

    Like this...

     

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    Hi Walter,

    I just checked "Programs and Features".  My Dropbox version has been updated to 215.3.7023.  The install dat is 12/20/24.  I realize that this means it is a beta version... the weird part is that it is auto-updating under the hood. I never even get notified.  I just found a page on your site that says that you can't disable or turn off auto-updates. Is that correct?

    I looked at your link ("latest, stable version of the app"), and it is 213.4.4597.  Is that still accurate?  If so, then auto-update is taking me to the most recent beta, which is two versions ahead of the most recent stable version.

    When you said "early releases" above, are you talking about the "early access" toggle switch, shown in the screenshot below?  Is that why I am getting these beta updates?

    Thanks again for all your help.

  • taballe's avatar
    taballe
    New member | Level 1

    Hi Walter,

    It seems that using the dropbox.com/installs/upgrade-latest-version page got me the latest beta.... :(

    I was finally able to download the latest stable client build - 214.4.5217.  I was able to find it by googling "Dropbox forum latest stable client build."  Is it supposed to be that hard? 

    After installing 214.4.5217, I see that the issue is fixed.  The usual/normal behavior is back: I press Print Screen and the screenshot is saved to my Dropbox Screenshots folder, but I don't get that annoying little preview of the screenshot in the bottom right corner of my Windows desktop.  It therefore seems that this was a "feature" in the beta... If it was intentional, then they haven't gotten it quite right yet... It needs a setting for toggling the preview on/off.  :)

    I did turn off the early access toggle switch.

    Please confirm/correct any questions/assumptions in this post and my previous post.  :)

    Thank you.

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

      I'm glad to hear you managed to sort this out in the end and thanks for keeping me in the loop too taballe 

      When it comes to your concerns, it's true that I was referring to the button you mentioned and you'd need to toggle it off to be able to install the stable version of the app normally and not the beta versions. 

      That said, thanks for your report about that specific beta build and let us know if anything else comes up!