How to change desktop app preferences

The Dropbox desktop app is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. The preferences menu allows you to customize the Dropbox app to your liking.

Learn how to open and view your Dropbox desktop app preferences.

Sections in this article:

Depending on your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux), you may see some or all of the options below in the preferences menu. On Linux, you can change some of these settings using commands.

Settings in the general tab

Start Dropbox on system startup

This setting opens the Dropbox desktop app automatically whenever you start your computer. Your Dropbox desktop app must be open to sync changes between the Dropbox files on your computer and everywhere else you access your files in Dropbox.

Language

To specify a different language from the default operating system settings, select it from this menu.

Dropbox Badge

Choose if Dropbox badge appears each time you open a Microsoft Office file, to see it only when others are viewing a file, or to never see the badge.

About Dropbox

This is the current version of your Dropbox installation. Reference this number in support cases or to see if you have the latest version of Dropbox.

Settings in the account tab

In the account tab you can sign in and out of your Dropbox accounts, view which plan you’re on, and view your storage space. If you have two linked accounts, you can sign in and out of them in this tab. If you sign into both your linked accounts, you can easily switch between them in the desktop app.

Settings in the backups tab

Devices

Devices configured for importing photos will show up here.

Photos

Choose if you want to enable camera uploads to automatically upload photos and videos from your phone, camera, SD card, or other devices whenever you connect to your computer.

Screenshots

Whenever you take a screenshot, Dropbox will automatically save it to your Dropbox and copy a link to your clipboard so you can share it instantly.

Settings in the bandwidth or network tab

Bandwidth

This setting lets you manage how much bandwidth your internet uses to run the Dropbox desktop app.

Proxies

This setting lets you connect the Dropbox desktop app to a proxy server, if there’s one available.

Enable LAN Sync

This setting lets you enable LAN sync in your Dropbox desktop app preferences. If your computer is connected to a LAN, enabling this setting in the Dropbox desktop app will override your bandwidth settings and may speed up syncing for files stored on your LAN.

Note: This setting is currently unavailable for computers running the updated version of Dropbox for macOS 12.5 and higher.

Settings in the notifications tab

Notify me about

You can set your notification preferences to choose what notifications to receive.

Settings in the sync tab

Storage of new files

Using the online-only feature on the Dropbox desktop app helps you save hard drive space on your computer. Learn more about online-only files and folders.

Select folders to sync

Selective sync is a feature in the Dropbox desktop app that allows you remove specific Dropbox folders from your hard drive so you can save space on your computer. Learn more about the selective sync feature.

Dropbox folder location

On Windows and Linux computers, this setting lets you move the Dropbox folder to a different location on your computer.

On Mac computers with the updated Dropbox for macOS experience, you can no longer move the Dropbox folder. Learn more about the expected changes with the Dropbox for macOS update.