There are massive changes coming to Dropbox Business accounts so they can comply with the Apple File Storage API that OneDrive complied with in early 2022. Thread based on the what I have learned talking to Dropbox support today… #macadmins #macadmin
The admin will get an email notifying them when it is time to upgrade. You’ll be able to select a date within the next 30 days. You can’t delay when you will get the email and it sounds like they will come in November.
This is happening not because of macOS Ventura so staying on Monterey will not stop it.
Dropbox is moving from ~/ to ~/Library/CloudStorage/
It will be accessible in the Finder sidebar under Locations instead of Favorites after enabling it in Finder preferences.
It will be accessible in the Finder sidebar under Locations instead of Favorites after enabling it in Finder preferences.
Links from local 3rd party apps looking for files at their old path may break.
The Dropbox folder will be renamed from Dropbox (Your Team Name) to Your Team Name’s Dropbox.
ALL existing Dropbox share links (as in control / right click, copy Dropbox link to make a dropbox.com URL) will break and will have to be regenerated.
Once the upgrade happens each member will have to wait for their computer to finish syncing (moving all of their files from their ~/ to ~/Library/CloudStorage/), then they will have to go to dropbox.com and move their files into the Team folder.
Doing this move from the Mac Dropbox app “causes problems.”
All files and folders will move into Team Folders. The new home for files will be a Personal Team Folder. Only folders already shared to the entire team will automatically be in the shared Team Folder.
Sharing of “some” folders will break. They will still show as shared from the view of the folder’s owner, so the people it is shared to will have to go to dropbox.com to add the folder again.
It sounds like this will be like accepting an invite again to re-add the folder back to their account.
Spotlight search is said to be supported.
I see some complaints on the Dropbox community forums of people not able to use either make offline or make online, but support says that functionality is expected to work.
Storing your Dropbox folder on an external drive will no longer be supported, nor will changing the location of the Dropbox folder.
It sounds like Teams that already upgraded were downloading files as offline (the move from User folder to the Library) so they have changed that so all files start as online only, and you can go back and mark what you want offline afterwards.
Okay, part 2 based on another call I just had with Dropbox. This is actually 2 separate updates. In addition to the business upgrade the Mac app is will be auto updating and that is what will cause the move from ~/ to ~/Library/CloudStorage/
The Mac app is updating for personal and family accounts as well as Team accounts. The renaming of the Team folder and the breaking of shared links are part of the business upgrade.
This means there are 2 big syncs on the client end, one while the app updates and a second while upgrading the business.
While the Mac app updates and moves the files you are advised to not interact with it. The app will restart multiple times during the process.
I asked about having a linked personal account so you are signed into a personal and a team account. This should not be an issue as it will move both of them when the app updates.
You should also not interact with Dropbox while the business upgrade is happening.
They also said that the current offline / online status of files should not be affected, which contradicts what I was told yesterday and wrote above in this thread.
They also said that the current offline / online status of files should not be affected, which contradicts what I was told yesterday and wrote above in this thread.
Another contradiction is today I was told the user would NOT have to take action after the upgrade to re-add themselves to folders they were invited to.
The app update will prevent locating your Dropbox folder on an external drive.
Email from support with more info: 
From the support document for the day of the business migration.
This shit sandwich is free!
Okay part 3. Strap in. I asked about macOS version requirements for the app to update. 12.6 and above will get the update. They don’t know if the update will go to pre 12.6 versions starting with 12.3. Version before 12.3 won’t get the updated app.
As for what triggers the Dropbox app update, Dropbox claims the new File Provider API will be activated by Apple and then the Dropbox app will immediately update itself.
I challenged this assertion. What is the mechanism of this update that Apple will do? What about the fact that the API has been active for almost a year already? Isn’t this just a phased roll out over time by Dropbox and as long as you meet the OS requirement you get the update?
They claim Apple will know when the API will update and I can contact them. I’m not going to waste time doing that. We left it with an “I don’t believe you.” from me.
I use CloudHQ to backup Dropbox to S3. I have an email out to them to see what they are advising about handling this migration.
I also backup a Synology to a Dropbox account with a Synology plugin. At a minimum I’ll be pausing that during the team upgrade. I don’t know yet if that will break after turning it back on.
The help document says you can work on files while the app is updating but support person says you shouldn’t. It certainly seems safer to let the app update and for the files to move before you touch your Dropbox files again.
Example of a person with the updated app who can’t search with spotlight. dropboxforum.com/t5/Apps-and-In…
Someone who has gone through it already which took them days to clean up:
“It broke Teams, made shared folders into teams, broke permissions, made some folders available to all staff where previously they were locked down.”
“It broke Teams, made shared folders into teams, broke permissions, made some folders available to all staff where previously they were locked down.”
Sample email from someone who has gone through the business migration already. Doesn’t let them choose a time so the email probably will look different once you get it as this company was in beta.
Someone else with with no search after updating the app. reddit.com/r/dropbox/comm…
Spoke to someone with 2.5 TB of data. They don’t know what time the business migration started but got an email at 1am saying it was complete. It actually finished 8 hours after that.
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