You might be out of space on your system C: drive which is the default location of the Dropbox folder when you install it. So, If you want to change the dropbox folder location and move all the files and folders to another drive on your computer without disturbing anything here is how to do it.
Why changing dropbox location?
The default path to the dropbox folder is your system volume which is usually for Windows: C:\Users\<username> and for macOS is your Home folder. You might want to change the current Dropbox location because the system volume is out of space or you might have another reason.
NOTE:
- Don’t try to move the Dropbox folder by the Copy/Cut and Paste option, only use the Dropbox given option, as you will see in the steps below.
- Don’t use a removable drive or a network share drive as a new location for the dropbox folder.
How to Move Dropbox folder to a new location
IMPORTANT:
If you already have installed and synced the Dropbox with your computer and want to move the existing folder to another location then go to:
move the already synced Dropbox folder.
Those who just installed the dropbox and didn’t sync anything, start from Step-1
I am going to move the Dropbox folder to my D: volume which is another volume on my internal SSD (Solid State Drive), you can choose whatever you want it depends on the available space on the internal drive.
- Sign in: Open up Dropbox and login into it using your account information.
- I have enabled 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) so, I need to enter the security code that I receive on my mobile phone, so I enter the code and hit submit code button.
- It’s time to Sync the Dropbox folders with your computer, click the Choose folders to sync button.
- You can check all the folders that you want to see on your computer. I’m going to uncheck the Select All check box at the moment and then click the Update button.
- Message: You can still check all the files on the dropbox.com website even selected nothing, just click Update
- On the next screen click the Advanced settings option as you can see in the screenshot.
- In this step, you need to choose the new location for the Dropbox folder. As you can see in the screenshot, under the Dropbox Location dropdown the current location is C:\Users\Riz\Dropbox is selected. We just need to click the Other… option.
- In the Browse For Folder window, select the new location for the Dropbox and click OK. As you can see I selected the D: volume. Remember, a folder named “Dropbox” will be created inside the folder your selected here.
- So, I choose the D: volume and the new location is now D:\Dropbox. Click the Change settings button and select the folders that you want to sync to your computer.
- Once done, click the Next button.
- Finally, here you can see the Dropbox folder is moved from C: drive to my D: drive.
Move already synced Dropbox folder to a new location
- From the system tray, right-bottom corner, click the Dropbox icon. From the Dropbox menu, click the user icon at the top-right corner. Select the Preferences option from the menu, as you can see in the screenshot.
NOTE: If you can’t see the Dropbox icon in the system tray, your Dropbox icon might be hidden under the upward arrow icon here in the system tray. - From the Preferences window, click the Sync tab and then click the Move button. Select the new place for the Dropbox folder and click OK.
- For selective sync, just click the Selective Sync… button and check/uncheck the folder.
So, this is how you can move dropbox from one drive to another, even the dropbox folder is already synced or just fresh installed. I tried to cover every aspect related to moving the dropbox folder. If you still have any questions please leave a comment below and we would love to answer them.