External drive support for Dropbox on File Provider

Updated Jun 10, 2024

This article describes a feature available to all Dropbox customers on macOS.

Dropbox 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 on File Provider, you must:

Be on macOS 15.4+
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

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 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 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 on File Provider.

If you haven’t updated to Dropbox 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 on File Provider.

If you haven’t updated to Dropbox on File Provider and would like to update and move the Dropbox folder to an external drive: