How To Relink Mac To Dropbox (Dropbox App Already Installed)

[lightandaprayer]

I've been setting up my wife's new MacBookAir (the Samsung SSD in her MBP died without warning but that's another story. . .).

The computer name in Dropbox was the old MBP, probably due to transferring everything from a backup. I changed the name in the MBA Sharing preference pane and logged-out/in to Dropbox. The computer name was unchanged.

So I tried unlinking the Mac to Dropbox. Unfortunately, relinking it isn't as straightforward as I had expected. Now the only option I can find is deleting and reinstalling Dropbox. Naturally, my primary concern is to not lose anything in the local Dropbox folder. I don't want to assume it will simply stay put at this point. . . Like her 1Password keychain! LOL

 

[Mike Boreham]

Sounds like you know that when you launch Dropbox on a new machine the first thing it asks is to sign in to your account, and this links it to your Dropbox account.

Did this not happen?

Uninstalling and reinstalling Dropbox app has never deleted the Dropbox folder for me, but you could always restore from a backup if it did.

You can see (and edit) what computers are linked to your account on Dropbox.com > Account icon > Settings > Security. If you unlink from there then the next time you open Dropbox on that computer it will ask to sign in. This would be an alternative to uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

 

[lightandaprayer]

Sounds like you know that when you launch Dropbox on a new machine the first thing it asks is to sign in to your account, and this links it to your Dropbox account.

Did this not happen?

Worked like a charm. . .

Uninstalling and reinstalling Dropbox app has never deleted the Dropbox folder for me, but you could always restore from a backup if it did.

You can see (and edit) what computers are linked to your account on Dropbox.com > Account icon > Settings > Security. If you unlink from there then the next time you open Dropbox on that computer it will ask to sign in. This would be an alternative to uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

I just tried logging in to Dropbox.com and the computer name is now the MBA vs. the old MBP. When I tried this yesterday the old name was still there. I wonder if there is some lag time before the new computer name shows up.

At any rate, the problem appears to be solved. . . Thanks for replying.