Dropbox won't be able to sync to external drives on macOS

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Mac Software edited February 2023
An update to macOS and how Apple's File Provider API works will soon force apps like Dropbox to end support for external drives.

Dropbox losing functionality on macOS
Dropbox losing functionality on macOS


Some Dropbox users have encountered issues with their external drive setup on Macs running macOS Ventura. This is due to a change to Apple's File Provider API that will require cloud storage providers to place system files within ~/Library/CloudStorage.

This Dropbox update has come as a surprise to users that rely upon local external storage for projects stored and synced with Dropbox. One user on the Dropbox forums describes the change as a "showstopper," stating the team will have to find a new service.

It isn't clear how this change will affect other third-party cloud storage providers. Any app that uses Apple's File Provider API will have to adopt the new system folder.

Dropbox shared the following details about how Apple's API changes affect users.

  • Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS.

  • Due to the change of the Dropbox folder location, files that were previously linked in some third-party applications will need to be linked again.

  • Storing your Dropbox folder on an external drive is no longer supported by macOS.

  • Your Dropbox folder in Finder will now be found under Locations and no longer under Favorites.

  • Individual folders can be moved from your Dropbox folder to Favorites for quick access.

The update will install automatically, and it can't be avoided. Users will be moved to the new version of Dropbox upon an app restart.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    Fidonet127Fidonet127 Posts: 507member
    Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space. 

    Can’t some automation help in the Dropbox situation?
    edited February 2023 williamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 32
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,320member
    Fidonet127 said:
    Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space. 

    Can’t some automation help in the Dropbox situation?
    Probably because Dropbox competes with iCloud and external drives compete with Apple’s up charge for larger internal drives.
    blastdoordecoderringcornchipwilliamlondonappleinsideruserelijahgzeus423
  • Reply 3 of 32
    AniMillAniMill Posts: 155member
    This is outrageous! The whole point of using applications like Dropbox is to offload files that bloat the internal SSD. This will definitely be a dealbreaker for any upgrades to macOS. I’m glad I read about this - I’ll be sending Apple a huge complaint.
    williamlondonelijahgzeus423
  • Reply 4 of 32
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,336member
    AppleInsider,

    The article is not detailed enough and requires us to make assumptions, which I don't like to do.

    Is this talking exclusively about macOS Ventura?  An OS version I happily have NOT upgraded to because I like Monterey better? :-) 

    Or will DropBox dump its awful new version onto us Monterey users too?

    If the ticket to avoiding trouble is using Monterey, I am happy to stick with it.  I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura.  Older is better.
    Anilu_777Sarsara_777cmka~+williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 32
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    AniMill said:
    This is outrageous! The whole point of using applications like Dropbox is to offload files that bloat the internal SSD. This will definitely be a dealbreaker for any upgrades to macOS. I’m glad I read about this - I’ll be sending Apple a huge complaint.
    Dropbox is primarily used for offloading locally-stored files to the cloud.  For most users, this is a non-issue.

    cornchipwilliamlondonauxio
  • Reply 6 of 32
    amar99amar99 Posts: 181member
    Won't work for everyone, but just wanted to note that a Synology NAS lets you both host the data and upload to Dropbox 100% on the device. All computers / platforms can connect to the NAS to access or store data on Dropbox. Installing the app on a device which need to be mobile (i.e., laptop) simply has DropBox installed on root drive and "selective sync" enabled so space for all files doesn't get taken up on the local drive. I still get why people are upset about this change though.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 32
    anoyllaanoylla Posts: 39member
    "I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura. Older is better." I totally agree! If the purpose of updates is to make users' lives easier, then one thing is certain, System Preferences (System Settings in Ventura) has made users' lives a nightmare.
    williamlondonjdw
  • Reply 8 of 32
    gnapiergnapier Posts: 6member
    This has huge implications for video and audio collaborative workflows. I think they will come to regret this decision.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 32
    gordon1420gordon1420 Posts: 19member
    It might be worth looking at Maestral (https://www.maestral.app/) as an alternative to the official Dropbox client. The File Provider APIs are required if you want to have content that is partially online and partially offline, as it allows files to be downloaded seamlessly on demand. If all you want is the classic Dropbox experience - a local folder that syncs, this doesn’t require any special APIs nor have any limits on where data can be stored. Unfortunately Dropbox doesn’t seem to have much interest in this use case anymore and is all-in on content that is stored in the cloud and retrieved on-demand.
  • Reply 10 of 32
    atomicGunatomicGun Posts: 1member
    looks like no LAN Sync either
    williamlondon
  • Reply 11 of 32
    Sarsara_777Sarsara_777 Posts: 3member
    This could be a huge disaster  or many A.V pros! I have a 3TB dropbox account with a bunch of Macs, all using external SSD for syncing video & audio projects on the go. This renders the entire carefully setup workflow useless! What are Apple & dropbox thinking? Its' currently working fine so why the need to do this?
    narwhalwilliamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 32
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    anoylla said:
    "I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura. Older is better." I totally agree! If the purpose of updates is to make users' lives easier, then one thing is certain, System Preferences (System Settings in Ventura) has made users' lives a nightmare.
    No, it’s just you refusing change and being unwilling to adapt.
    cornchipSpitbathwilliamlondon
  • Reply 13 of 32
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    mikethemartian said:
    Fidonet127 said:
    Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space. 

    Can’t some automation help in the Dropbox situation?
    Probably because Dropbox competes with iCloud and external drives compete with Apple’s up charge for larger internal drives.
    Well, that would clearly be anti-competitive and anti-trust so you had better be able to prove that in a court of law. Can you? Or is it just your knee-jerk reaction to anything Apple does?
    cornchipwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 32
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,320member
    lkrupp said:
    mikethemartian said:
    Fidonet127 said:
    Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space. 

    Can’t some automation help in the Dropbox situation?
    Probably because Dropbox competes with iCloud and external drives compete with Apple’s up charge for larger internal drives.
    Well, that would clearly be anti-competitive and anti-trust so you had better be able to prove that in a court of law. Can you? Or is it just your knee-jerk reaction to anything Apple does?
    Do you know the definition of the word “probably”?
    williamlondonelijahgwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 32
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,146member
    lkrupp said:
    Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space. 

    Can’t some automation help in the Dropbox situation?
    Probably because Dropbox competes with iCloud and external drives compete with Apple’s up charge for larger internal drives.
    Well, that would clearly be anti-competitive and anti-trust so you had better be able to prove that in a court of law. Can you? Or is it just your knee-jerk reaction to anything Apple does?
    ...and perhaps there are some who serve to benefit from anything Apple changes (developers perhaps ?), and support them no matter how much something makes sense...?  I just want my mac to work, and if there is a major workflow disruption I want it opt in vs opt alt...
    Every 'upgrade' has me asking about possible quid pro quo and data scraping now - trust Apple - are you kidding...?
    Maybe as a shareholder but as a customer...? Is Apple's MO to simply keep tightening the financial screws on customers ?  
    Embrace extend extinguish ?  Should that be applied to Apple management ?
    Welcome to the post Jobs world on the Mac...


    edited February 2023 muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondon
  • Reply 16 of 32
    narwhalnarwhal Posts: 119member
    Can this be fixed with sym links? I haven't used my main drive for Photos for over a decade -- using sym links I just point the OS to another drive for that folder. My Dropbox is 3 TB, even bigger than my Photos.
    cmka~+watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 32
    cmka~+cmka~+ Posts: 40member
    Anyone know if Sync.com will be affected? doesn't seem like their end to end encryption would be compatible with this new API
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 32
    amedeo_68kamedeo_68k Posts: 1member
    It is possible to instruct macOS to mount a specific external Drive in ~/Library/CloudStorage, it is a workaround, but it works.


    edited February 2023 netroxappleinsideruserSarsara_777watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 32
    cmka~+cmka~+ Posts: 40member
    anoylla said:
    "I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura. Older is better." I totally agree! If the purpose of updates is to make users' lives easier, then one thing is certain, System Preferences (System Settings in Ventura) has made users' lives a nightmare.
    I wouldn't say older is intrinsically better, but it does feel like the apple faithful are being asked to accept a number of downgrades of late, in the name of... progress? the new system preferences is a prime (if relatively innocuous) example of this. 

    Snazzy labs has a great segment on this tucked away in another video: 
    williamlondonmuthuk_vanalingamjdw
  • Reply 20 of 32
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,421member
    I was thinking that surely, you can copy all data from cloud storage folder to external disk? 
    watto_cobra
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