Create a symlink between the pre-updated Dropbox and post-updated Dropbox.

[Grey28]

Dropbox made some major updates from April 2024 that affects our team's workflow regarding file directory. We're using Windows and a lot of our projects are linked to the old Dropbox (Team's Name) directory, now it's synced to Team's Name Dropbox/Personal Name. However, the old Dropbox (Team's Name) is still there but hidden in our drive, we manage to still maintain the old directory for our old/current projects for the time being but for our new users, the old folder wouldn't appear. Is there a way to create a symlink between the new Team's Name Dropbox/Personal Name to the Dropbox (Team's Name)?

[Mark]

I'm afraid Dropbox wont support/sync Symlinks. Dropbox only sync's files inside of the Dropbox folder - so the files should be in that location and symlinked at the original

[Grey28]

Hi Mark, thanks for your reply. I'm pretty new to this symlink concept, only found out on 1 of Dropbox's Help Center page saying that "Dropbox will create a hidden symlink that points to new Dropbox folder from the old location. Fresh installs don't require this, as the Dropbox folder is created with the team name from the beginning", so was wondering if I can recreate this symlink for our new users also if Dropbox managed to do it.

[Mark]

If I'm honest I'm not sure - but the symlinks themselves arent in Dropbox, they are at the original location. 

A google of Microsoft's help pages may help?

[Grey28]

Yes Mark, they are at the original position so it was D:\Dropbox (TeamName) and that's exactly what we need to recreate and maintain our linked directory for all the project files. The current one is synced at D:\Dropbox TeamName\MyName. I went googling on Microsoft too but wanna check if anyone tried it out here

[DBoxTips · Accepted solution]

Hello @Grey28,

Yes, that will work. If I got this right, you need to have the files accessible through the old path. For new users you can recreate the old Dropbox folder path as a junction link (use mklink in an administrative command prompt for that) to the new Dropbox path. It won’t affect the functioning of Dropbox in any way, since the link is outside of the Dropbox folder and is only used to maintain the old paths.

Hope this gives you the courage to try it.

Andrew (DBoxTips)

[Grey28]

Oh this works perfectly, thank you