Dropbox App Mac Not Opening

Posted By admin  On 22.05.21

How to access the preferences menu

  1. Click the Dropbox icon in the system tray or menu bar of your computer.
  2. Click your avatar (profile picture or initials) and select Preferences from the menu.

The prime reason why I like to keep Dropbox in Favorites is to be able to access it a bit easily. Here is how you can quickly add this cloud-based app to Favorites in Finder on your Mac. How to Add Dropbox to Favorites in Finder Sidebar on your Mac. First off, open Finder on your Mac.

Depending on your operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows), you may see some or all of the options below in the preferences menu. On Linux, you can change some of these settings using commands.

Settings in the general tab

Start Dropbox on system startup

You can have Dropbox launch automatically whenever you start your computer. This option is recommended in order to keep your Dropbox folder synced online and to other computers at all times.

Language

To specify a different language from the default operating system settings, select it from this menu.

Dropbox Badge

Choose if Dropbox badge appears each time you open a Microsoft Office file, to see it only when others are viewing a file, or to never see the badge.

Open folders in

You can choose to open folders automatically in the Dropbox folder in Finder/File Explorer or the desktop app. Learn how to change that preference.

About Dropbox

This is the current version of your Dropbox installation. Reference this number in support cases or to see if you have the latest version of Dropbox.

Settings in the account tab

Personal and work accounts

If you have a personal and work account, you can choose which account's settings you want to change.

Space

See how much storage space is available in your account.

Account linking

The email address associated with your Dropbox account is shown here. You can unlink this Dropbox account from your computer. If you unlink, your Dropbox will stop syncing to your online account. An unlinked computer can be linked or relinked to any Dropbox account using the same button.

Dropbox Business users: If you've connected your personal and work Dropboxes, then both account settings will be listed on this tab. You can toggle back and forth between the two Dropboxes using the buttons at the top of the tab.

App

Settings in the backups tab

Devices

Devices configured for importing photos will show up here.

Photos

Choose if you want to enable camera uploads to automatically upload photos and videos from your phone, camera, SD card, or other devices whenever you connect to your computer.

Screenshots

Whenever you take a screenshot, Dropbox will automatically save it to your Dropbox and copy a link to your clipboard so you can share it instantly.

Settings in the bandwidth or network tab

To change bandwidth settings on a Mac computer, click Network, then click Change Settings... next to Bandwidth.

Download rate

  • Don't limit: Select this radio button if you want Dropbox to download files from the Dropbox server at the fastest available speed.
  • Limit to: Limit the rate of download by entering your own download rate in kilobytes per second. Entering '0' will tell Dropbox to download at the fastest speed available.

Upload rate

  • Don't limit: Select this radio button if you want Dropbox to upload files to Dropbox at the fastest available speed.
  • Limit automatically: Select this radio button if you want Dropbox to determine the speed at which to upload your files when it is syncing.
  • Limit to: Choose your own upload rate here in kilobytes per second

LAN sync

Dropbox Free

LAN sync is a networking feature that allows you to save time and bandwidth by downloading files directly from other computers on your local network. Deselecting this option will force Dropbox to sync from Dropbox servers every time it detects a change in your Dropbox folder.

Settings in the proxies or network tab

To change proxies settings on a Mac computer, click Network, then click Change Settings... next to Proxies.

Proxy settings

  • No proxy: Choose no proxy server to tell Dropbox if you don't use a proxy server. Choosing this option may bypass some issues that occur when Dropbox attempts to find a proxy server and fails
  • Auto-detect: This option will let Dropbox auto-detect your proxy settings. Select this option if you are unsure if your internet connection requires a proxy server
  • Manual: Select this radio button to allow you to enter your proxy settings manually. This option is typically for users or administrators who have a non-standard proxy server configuration

When Manual is selected, the following settings will be available for editing:

  • Proxy type: This pulldown will let you select your proxy server's protocol. Dropbox supports HTTP, SOCKS4, and SOCKS5.
  • Server: Enter the URL and port of your proxy server here.
  • Proxy server requires password: Select this checkbox if your proxy server requires a login. Once you do, the Username and Password fields will be editable.

Settings in the notifications tab

Notify me about

You can set your notification preferences to choose what notifications to receive.

Do not disturb

On Mac computers, you can turn off notifications for a limited time. Choose how long notifications are turned off for.

Settings in the sync tab

Selective sync

Selective sync lets you choose which folders from your Dropbox online account sync to the Dropbox folder on your computer. If you deselect a folder, it won't appear in your Dropbox folder, but it's still in your account on dropbox.com. We recommend you use selective sync for files you don't use very often.

Smart Sync

Smart Sync is only available to Dropbox Business, Plus, Family, and Professional users.

If you choose the Local setting, new files and folders that you add to your account on dropbox.com download to your computer's hard drive in the Dropbox folder.

If you choose the Online-only setting, new files and folders added to your account on dropbox.com display in your Dropbox folder on your computer, but are online-only.

Note: Smart Sync settings only apply to the top-level of folders inside your main Dropbox folder. All lower-level files and folders follow the setting of their parent folder, unless you change them individually.

Select Let my admin manage this setting to use your team's default setting.

Sync setting FAQs

Why are my files downloading to my computer when my Smart Sync is set to online-only?

There are two reasons a file may download to your computer’s Dropbox folder even though your Smart Sync is set to online-only:

  • The file or folder was already on your computer when you added it to your Dropbox folder
    • In this case, the file or folder will continue to take up hard drive space unless you make it online-only
    • Note: You can also unsync it from your computer using selective sync
  • You’re using an application that needed to download files to function properly, including:
    • Backup services
    • Antivirus software
    • Recently used file lists
    • Third party applications that monitor files

Why, after using selective sync, are my folders online-only when my Smart Sync is set to local?

If you’re using Smart Sync (which is only available to Dropbox Business, Plus, Family and Professional users), you can still use selective sync to sync folders from dropbox.com to your computer’s Dropbox folder. Those folders sync to your computer as online-only regardless of your Smart Sync setting, but you can change them to local at anytime.

To change a folder from online-only to local:

  1. Right-click the folder.
  2. Hover over Smart Sync.
  3. Click Local.

Dropbox folder location

This option changes the location of your Dropbox folder. Typically your Dropbox folder is installed in your user folder (the folder named after your login). However, you can choose any location on your hard drive with this option.

Note: While you can choose the location of your Dropbox folder, you currently can't change the name of your Dropbox folder. No matter where you put it, it will be named Dropbox or Dropbox (Team name) for Business accounts and Dropbox (Personal) for connected personal accounts.

Dropbox App Mac Not Opening App

When it comes to File management and navigation, Finder is where we all go. But imagine if Mac Finder does not respond to any of the commands you give. It may undoubtedly hurt your productivity as you cannot do anything without it. Thankfully, there are a few possible solutions to fix the issue problem. Let’s move on!

How to Fix Finder Not Working Issue on Mac

Relaunch Finder

The very first to get your Finder back is to quit it forcefully and then see if it starts usually.

  • Open Task Manager by pressing Option + Command + Esc.
  • From the list of running Apps, click on Finder and then click on “Relaunch” option

Doing this will Force Quit the Finder and also relaunch it. If things are executed as planned, you may have a fully functional Finder at your disposal. But if it didn’t turn out as expected, keep reading.

If you have got what you were looking for, you can get back to your business. Else, keep reading!

Another way to Force Quit Finder is by using the Activity Monitor app on the Mac.

  • Launch the Activity Monitor app using the Launchpad
  • Click on Finder from the list of processes running
  • Now click on the “X” icon at the top-left
  • At the pop-up click on Force Quit.

You’ll notice Finder removed from the list of running processes. Ideally, this should do the trick. But just in case it doesn’t help either, you may need to follow a little hard route.

Try Logging out and Log in Again

If none of the fixes above seems to help, try logging out and then log in to your Mac again. This ideally kills all the running processes and starts them back when you log in. Make sure you Log Out and not just lock your Mac.

Dropbox App Mac Not Opening Windows 10

To Log Out from your Mac Click the () Apple Logo and then click on the last option “Log Out .”

Even if that doesn’t help, try restarting your Mac and see if you have got it working. Also if that doesn’t help, I have got one last thing to help you out.

Delete Finder Corrupted File using Terminal

The command line is a powerful tool to get things done when everything else fails. Maybe the Finder plist file is corrupted and needs to be deleted. But as Finder itself isn’t working, there’s no way we can navigate to the path and remove it using the UI. So we’ll use the Terminal app.

  • Open the Terminal App from Launchpad
  • Now type the following line and hit Enter
  • Restart Mac to see if things are back to normal

If all the fixes have resulted in disappointment, I guess the only way out is to install Mac OS X again to repair any corrupt system file.

Wrapping up…

Most of the time, a simple Force Quit and Relaunch brings Finder back to life. If it takes more than a couple of restarts to get things back to normal, it is most likely to be an issue of corrupted system files. Anyways, if you know of any other fix to resolve the issue, do let us know and we’ll update the post.

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Jignesh Padhiyar is the co-founder of iGeeksBlog.com who has a keen eye for news, rumors and all the unusual stuff that happens around Apple products. During his tight schedule, Jignesh finds some moments of respite to share side-splitting contents on social media.

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