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Forum Discussion
Duplicate "Desktop" folders, real desktop not syncing
TIA for help. Mysteriously, when dropbox was set up a long time ago, a "desktop" folder was created directly in Dropbox (Dropbox/Desktop), which is different from my actual "desktop" (on an ewer MacBook Air) which is Macintosh/Users/username/Desktop.
Dropbox is syncing to the rogue Desktop folder that is not actually my desktop - and when I go to try and select my actual desktop folder - it doesn't show up as a separate option, it only shows the Desktop that only lives in Dropbox.
I'm afraid to move the (random) contents of that rogue folder and delete it in order to see if the real Desktop will show up because I don't want to do something wrong by mistake!
I don't know how the rogue one got there (although over a year ago I had some issue and Dropbox helped me reconfigure and I think it happened then and I didn't notice till later).
Thank you!
- Rich
Super User II
BBats wrote:
Mysteriously, when dropbox was set up a long time ago, a "desktop" folder was created directly in Dropbox (Dropbox/Desktop), which is different from my actual "desktop" (on an ewer MacBook Air) which is Macintosh/Users/username/Desktop.
You likely have the backup feature enabled, which moves the Desktop folder (among others) into your Dropbox folder (though usually they're in a subfolder called PC or Mac) and leaves an alias behind in the original location.
Check to see if Backup is enabled and disable it if desired.
Thanks Rich!
Backup is enabled and backups have been happening as expected. I understand that folders were moved to Dropbox directory - but I don't understand why my Desktop and Documents folders were not (or rather were duplicated - and the actual Desktop and Documents folders on my hard drive are separate from those in the Dropbox (and they are not in a subfolder btw). Im not sure why I would disable backup? All the other folders are in Dropbox and sync as desired.
My goal is to have ONE folder for each of Desktop and Documents and have it sync'd to dropbox - I could just move all the files I have in those folders on my hard drive to the ones in Dropbox but then anything new that gets downloaded to my hard drive folders will not sync there...
@BBats wrote:
Mysteriously, when dropbox was set up a long time ago, a "desktop" folder was created directly in Dropbox (Dropbox/Desktop), which is different from my actual "desktop" (on an ewer MacBook Air) which is Macintosh/Users/username/Desktop.
You likely have the backup feature enabled, which moves the Desktop folder (among others) into your Dropbox folder (though usually they're in a subfolder called PC or Mac) and leaves an alias behind in the original location.
Check to see if Backup is enabled and disable it if desired.
- Rich
BBats wrote:
... I don't understand why my Desktop and Documents folders ... were duplicated - and the actual Desktop and Documents folders on my hard drive are separate from those in the Dropbox ...
Are you sure they're actually separate folders? When the Backup feature moves the folders into Dropbox, it leaves behind an alias in the original location. This makes it look and work like the folder is still there when it's really just a pointer to the new location.
