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Forum Discussion
MacOS Finder windows reverting from Dropbox folders to root directory
I have an M1 Mini (OS 14.3) with two monitors, and since I'm always working on multiple projects, each with its own folder, I keep Finder windows open for each of them, some on different desktops, some with a dedicated desktop of their own.
Recently, when the Mac's been sitting idle for any length of time (typically overnight, but not always), I'll find that all of the windows that pointed to folders in Dropbox are now showing the root directory (see attached pic.) I have to re-map all of the windows back to the DB folder they were originally displaying. This is a huge PITA, and forces me to keep a list of the projects that I'm trying to pay attention to. Rebooting, deleting plists, Safe Mode, and all the usual Mac Finder hacks have no effect.
Folders on a local drive (e.g. "Eclipse stuff" in the pic) are not affected, so this seems to be a Dropbox problem. Is anybody else seeing this? Started happening in early March 2024.
JPDemers I'm experiencing the same problem. Did you manage to find the solution?
The problem seems to have gone away on its own, at least for the time being. I made no deliberate changes to installed software or startup items, so all I can think of is an update that incidentally resolved the issue. OS is still Sonoma 14.4.1, build 23E224, which dates back to early March (which is when the problem appeared, fwiw) so that's not where the fix came from. I have no idea if DB got a tweak in recent weeks.
I did replace a cheapo Amazon ethernet cable with a quality cat 6 cable (vastly improving my internet speed) at about the time things cleared up . . . perhaps DB was getting borked by the lousy connection? (The cheap cable had been there for a long time, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
JPDemers Thanks for sharing your experience on this. I'm on a later Dropbox version than the one you reported, and I'm still seeing this issue, so I don't think Dropbox did anything to fix it. It might just be a rare bug. Did you find any way to backup the session windows for Finder? From what I can tell, Finder saves its state in the "Saved Application State" folder, but this folder is not backed up by Time Machine, so I can't use it to get back the lost window tabs.
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hey JPDemers - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Could you please clarify the version of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar and the location of your Dropbox folder as per the sync tab in the app's preferences?
Thanks!
DB version is 194.4.6267
Attempting to launch it just opens my DB folder in the Finder; folder is at /Users/Jim/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
DB never appears as a running application - nothing in the dock - although Activity Monitor does list it (along with DropboxFileProvider) as an active process.
- Nancy
Just to clarify, if you check your menu bar again, close to your clock settings, there’s no Dropbox icon there?
What if you open your Finder > Applications folder, and relaunch the Dropbox app?
