How do I install Dropbox on my machine?

Note: Please also see FAQ https://www.ias.edu/math/computing/faq/sync-dropbox-folder

You can access dropbox from the Applications->Internet menu or by typing dropbox from a command prompt. 

Troubleshooting

• Nothing is happening after the first time launching Dropbox.

  1. Change your default browser to Firefox. Go to Applications -> Settings -> Details -> Default Applications. Next to Web, select Firefox, then Exit The application should download and install the Dropbox client and open up a webpage asking you to connect your Springdale Linux computer to your Dropbox account.

      

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   4. Once this is set up, one of the followings dialog windows should appear:

   1. "Move Dropbox to a supported location so your files can sync.
      Your Dropbox folder is on a file system that is no longer supported."
      1. Click on Move
      2. Navigate to /scratch/<username>, where is your username.
      3. Your files should now sync to/from Dropbox.
   2. "There's already a folder named Dropbox". 
      
      1. Click on "Choose Another Location".
      2. Navigate to /scratch/<username>, where <username> is your username.
      3. Your files should now sync to/from Dropbox.

   5. (Optional) If you want to change your default browser back to Chrome, repeat step 2a, but select Chrome from the list. Exit.

• My files aren't sycing
  1. Try rebooting your machine
  2. Have you logged into your account on the Dropbox website to see if your files have synced there? Or if they have synced on your other machine(s)?
  3. Try right-clicking on the Dropbox icon in your toolbar. Then select Preferences. Make sure Enable LAN sync is checked off
  4. Dropbox help pages:

     • https://www.dropbox.com/help/145
              You can try right-clicking on the Dropbox icon and selecting
        Stop Dropbox
              Then type rm -rfi ~/.dropbox on a command line.
              Then restart Dropbox from the Internet menu.   or type dropbox
        install -i from the command line.
              

       • https://www.dropbox.com/help/72
• I am getting the message "Your Dropbox folder is on a file system that is unsupported"
  1. Click on Move
  2. Navigate to /scratch/<username>, where is your username.
  3. Your files should now sync to/from Dropbox.
• Other things to try:
  1. From a terminal window, type "ps -ef | grep dropbox"
     1. If you see something that looks like "https://www.dropbox.com/cli_link_nonce?....", Copy and paste that link into the Firefox browser
  2.   Delete the .dropbox and .dropbox-dist directories from the command-line:
     1. $ rm -rf  /scratch/<username>
     2. Try launching Dropbox again
  3. Stop the dropbox processes and try again
     1. From a terminal window, type "pkill -9 dropbox"
     2. Try launching Dropbox again
• See for more information: https://www.ias.edu/math/computing/faq/sync-dropbox-folder