The information in this article applies to Dropbox customers on the Linux operating system.
Important note: The Dropbox desktop app for Linux is changing. To continue enjoying the full desktop experience on Linux, you may need to update your system or download additional libraries.
To run the Dropbox app on Linux, you’ll need to:
To get the full Dropbox desktop experience on Linux, including the Dropbox icon in the system tray, you’ll need to meet additional requirements and you may need to install additional libraries.
To get the full desktop app experience on Linux, you’ll need one of the following:
Note: The Dropbox desktop app isn’t officially supported on other Linux distributions, but it may work if they meet the necessary Dropbox system requirements for Linux.
The Dropbox tray icon needs a desktop environment that supports AppIndicator, which desktop apps use to display icons in the system tray. Not all desktop environments support AppIndicator natively. To determine your desktop environment:
echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
The terminal will display the name of your current desktop environment. The following desktop environments generally support AppIndicator:
The following desktop environments need additional libraries or extensions to support AppIndicator:
Notes:
To install Ayatana Indicators:
sudo apt install ayatana-indicator-application
The Dropbox icon should now appear in the added applet.
You’ll also need all of the following software libraries to run the app:
Dropbox uses an external library called LibAppIndicator to interact with AppIndicator. For the full Dropbox experience, you’ll need to install this library: Fedora
sudo dnf install libappindicator-gtk3
Debian or Ubuntu
sudo apt install libappindicator3-1
The Dropbox app for Linux was recently updated. As a result, some Linux users need to meet additional requirements or download additional libraries to continue using the app in the same way as before. If you’re having issues, check you’re running the latest version of the app, review the requirements in this article, then update your computer if necessary.
If your device doesn’t meet the operating system requirements, you may still be able to use the Dropbox desktop application, but results may vary.
The Dropbox app can also run in headless mode, once you meet the essential system requirements. This runs without a graphical user interface. You can install the app, then control Dropbox using the Linux Command Line Interface (CLI).
The Dropbox desktop app can be controlled with the Linux Command Line Interface (CLI). Before running commands, ensure that you’re running the available commands while your prompt is located at the root (top level) of the Dropbox folder. Learn more about available Linux commands on Dropbox.
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