Wesley Hilliard
An update to macOS and how Apple's File Provider API works will soon force apps like Dropbox to end support for external drives.
Some Dropbox users have encountered issues with their external drive setup on Macs running macOS Ventura. This is due to a change to Apple's File Provider API that will require cloud storage providers to place system files within ~/Library/CloudStorage.
This Dropbox update has come as a surprise to users that rely upon local external storage for projects stored and synced with Dropbox. One user on the Dropbox forums describes the change as a "showstopper," stating the team will have to find a new service.
It isn't clear how this change will affect other third-party cloud storage providers. Any app that uses Apple's File Provider API will have to adopt the new system folder.
Dropbox shared the following details about how Apple's API changes affect users.
- Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS.
- Due to the change of the Dropbox folder location, files that were previously linked in some third-party applications will need to be linked again.
- Storing your Dropbox folder on an external drive is no longer supported by macOS.
- Your Dropbox folder in Finder will now be found under Locations and no longer under Favorites.
- Individual folders can be moved from your Dropbox folder to Favorites for quick access.
The update will install automatically, and it can't be avoided. Users will be moved to the new version of Dropbox upon an app restart.
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32 Comments
Why is Apple doing this? Security? With many people thinking of buying minimal internal storage, and using external storage for most things, this will not work. Even I bought minimal internal storage, to find out thinks like Audiobooks will not work from external storage. Really??? Those Audiobooks take up a good amount of space.
This is outrageous! The whole point of using applications like Dropbox is to offload files that bloat the internal SSD. This will definitely be a dealbreaker for any upgrades to macOS. I’m glad I read about this - I’ll be sending Apple a huge complaint.
AppleInsider,
The article is not detailed enough and requires us to make assumptions, which I don't like to do.
Is this talking exclusively about macOS Ventura? An OS version I happily have NOT upgraded to because I like Monterey better? :-)
Or will DropBox dump its awful new version onto us Monterey users too?
If the ticket to avoiding trouble is using Monterey, I am happy to stick with it. I strongly dislike the facelift of System Preferences in Ventura. Older is better.