How to enable team access to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider

Admins Updated Feb 12, 2026

Dropbox continues to rollout full support for macOS 12.5 and later. Dropbox for macOS on File Provider is our latest update that utilizes Apple’s updated File Provider API and resolves issues related to opening online-only files in third-party applications for users on macOS 12.5 or later. This experience is more closely integrated with macOS and comes with some changes that are consistent with macOS requirements.

How to update to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider

Once your team is ready to update Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, you can turn it on for all team members through your admin console settings. To do so:

Log in to dropbox.com using your admin credentials.
Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
Under Products, click the dropdown next to Dropbox.
Click Settings.
Click the Content tab.
Under Sync, toggle macOS File Provider update to On.
- Leaving this toggle Off will stop migration eligibility notifications. It doesn’t stop in-progress migrations or revert the Dropbox desktop app back to a previous version.
Click Save.

After the update is complete, team members will see a notification stating “Dropbox on File Provider is now ready” in Dropbox on the menu bar.

Notes:

Your device must be running macOS 12.5 or later to use Dropbox on File Provider. However, using macOS 13+ is strongly recommended.
It can take up to 90 minutes for team members to receive the notification. To update, team members must click Get started in the Dropbox desktop app and follow the prompts on each device they’d like to update.
- Restarting your Dropbox app may reduce the wait time for receiving the notification.
Depending on the number of files, the initial update can take a significant amount of time.
Most accounts have received an email from Dropbox with instructions to enable the migration. Teams with complex configurations won’t be migrated at this time and will continue on their existing Dropbox experience. Teams interested in updating to the File Provider experience can contact their sales representatives.