External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider
This article describes a beta experience available to eligible customers on all Dropbox plans and is subject to additional terms. You may not be eligible to use this feature even if you meet the criteria.
Dropbox for macOS on File Provider is the latest update from Dropbox that utilizes Apple’s updated File Provider API. Dropbox is actively working to preserve the reliability and quality of our sync experience along with these changes, including the option to move the Dropbox folder onto an external drive.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible to store the Dropbox folder on an external drive with Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, you must:
- Be on macOS 15
- Have under 500,000 files in the Dropbox folder on your device
Support is only for external drives that are both:
- Formatted as Apple File System (APFS)
- Encrypted
Note: If you have paired accounts, you'll be able to have one account on an external drive and another on your local drive. You'll be able to have both accounts on two separate external drives.
How to check if your external drive is properly formatted
- Open Finder.
- Right-click the external drive you’d like to check.
- Select Get info.
- If your external drive is already formatted and encrypted, it will show APFS (Encrypted) under Format.
- If you see something other than APFS (Encrypted), follow the instruction set below.
How to convert and encrypt your external drive
If you’re selected to be part of the Dropbox for macOS on File Provider external drive support beta, you’ll receive a notification to Try Dropbox on File Provider in beta. From there, you’ll need to first properly format your hard drive.
Follow the instructions below if you need to format or encrypt your external drive to meet the compatibility requirements for this beta.
- Open Launchpad.
- Navigate to Disk Utility.
- Right-click on the external drive you’d like to convert to APFS in the left sidebar.
- Select Convert to APFS.
Important:
- Encryption can take several days, depending on the size and speed of your external drive. Learn more about Mac encryption.
- It’s not possible to stop the encryption process once it’s started.
- Open Finder.
- Right-click the external drive you’d like to encrypt for Dropbox on File Provider in beta.
- Select Encrypt.
How to move the Dropbox folder to an external drive
See the instructions below depending on your experience.
If you’ve updated to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider and want to move the Dropbox folder to an external drive, you can do so by following the instructions below.
To move the Dropbox folder:
- Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar.
- Click your profile picture or initials.
- Click Preferences.
- Click Account.
- Click Sign out.
- Click Sign in with Dropbox.
- Click Next.
- Click Advanced settings when you see, “You're almost finished.”
- Under Dropbox folder location, select a folder location.
- You can choose to store the Dropbox folder on your external drive from this screen.
- Click Done.
Learn how to find out if you’re on Dropbox for macOS on File Provider.
If you haven’t updated to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider and are currently storing the Dropbox folder on an external drive, you can update and keep the Dropbox folder on your external drive. Learn how to update to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider.
If you haven’t updated to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider and would like to update and move the Dropbox folder to an external drive:
