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What is Dropbox?

A commercial virtual storage file system (cloud). Dropbox is not free software. Dropbox offers a plan of 2GB with 3 clients for free. More storage space and additional services are offered at cost.

This page is a rewrite for Mageia 8 and 9.

Account

Go to https://www.dropbox.com/ and set up an account, if you do not have one to use already.

Sync folder

• When the client start, it will create ~/Dropbox if it do not already exist, and sync it to your account.
• After install, you can move/rename it, and select what folders to sync, in the client settings.

Install

1. Install the base package dropbox, and also, depending on desktop an integration package: For Plasma: dropbox-servicemenu (integration with Dolphin and Konqueror, and optionally: kipi-plugins-dropbox - to export from some programs directly to Dropbox​ - see https://github.com/KDE/kipi-plugins). For other desktops file managers there are the corresponding caja-dropbox, nautilus-dropbox, thunar-dropbox.
2. Make it start when you log into your desktop: In a command line terminal as normal user enter dropbox autostart y (completes with no message).
3. Log out from your desktop.
4. Log in to desktop, and you see this dialogue:
5. Click OK, and it downloads a file and expands binaries into ~/.dropbox-dist.

   In system tray you have a Dropbox icon with blinking blue "busy" dot.

6. Your internet browser get launched, asking for login credentials (Here in Swedish):
7. Next, browser say you are connected, and the Dropbox system tray icon will get a green dot with check mark when content have synced OK:
   
   
8. During the process you will have received two mails to your registered email account "Hi Yourname, we noticed a new sign in to your Dropbox account", one for the web browser, and one for the desktop client, asking if it is you. Click the links to confirm that.

Controlling Dropbox

• System tray icon: Right- and left-click for different menus. In there you find settings, latest changed files, pause, ...
• Command line: As normal user enter dropbox and it lists available commands and offer more help.
• Server side: Log in at https://www.dropbox.com/account/general.

Workaround for Gnome users

If you don't have a menu when you click on the icon, edit /usr/bin/dropbox with root privileges: Just after the line "import os", add the line:

os.environ['DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS'] = ""

save the file and restart Dropbox.

In the file browser

• You have no marking on what files are synced (Contrary to i.e NextCloud.) (Dolphin on Mageia 9, June 2023.)
• Right click a file and in the drop-down you see "Dropbox" which expand to an action menu:

Removing Dropbox

1. Stop it: In a command line terminal as normal user enter dropbox stop
2. Remove autostart: In the terminal enter dropbox autostart n (completes with no message).
3. Remove the Mageia packages from Install.
4. Remove the binaries: the hidden folder in your home: ~/.dropbox-dist.

Alternative synchronisation clients

• We package rclone for 64 and 32 bit. It can sync with many cloud storage services. https://rclone.org/dropbox/