Syncing Documents folder to Dropbox

[PowerBook-G5]

Hello, I would like to know how I can setup my Mac so that my Documents folder is synced with Dropbox so that I can see all of my files on my iPhone. I already tried making an alias, but I cannot view the files on my iPhone. Is there any way to have the Documents folder sync to Dropbox automatically? Thanks.

 

[S.B.G]

The easy way is to move the documents folder into the Dropbox folder. Then update your Finder sidebar shortcuts and you're all set.

 

[Intell]

Try running this in Terminal, then restart:

mv ~/Documents/ ~/Dropbox/Documents/
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Documents/ ~/Documents

I think I got that right. What that will do is move your Documents folder to your Dropbox and make a symlink back to where it was. Make sure you make a backup of your Documents folder first. Though you should loose anything. Also, make sure your Dropbox is big enough to fully contain your Documents folder.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hello, I would like to know how I can setup my Mac so that my Documents folder is synced with Dropbox so that I can see all of my files on my iPhone. I already tried making an alias, but I cannot view the files on my iPhone. Is there any way to have the Documents folder sync to Dropbox automatically? Thanks.

Just leave the Documents folder where it is and run this command in Terminal. That will create a symlink between your Documents folder and Dropbox. That way you can just use the regular Documents folder like normal and everything in that folder will be synced to Dropbox.

ln -s ~/Documents ~/Dropbox/Documents

If will look like this in Finder in your Dropbox folder and the full Documents folder will be visible in the iOS DropBox app.

If you are not comfortable using the Terminal command, you can use the free app MacDropAny to make the symlink for you.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

Thanks for the replies, after a bit of googling, I found the symbolic link commands and ran those. Now it works great, but thanks anyway!

 

[dribando]

If I used the command:
"ln -s ~/Documents ~/Dropbox/Documents"
to create a symlink, how do I now remove that symlink?

I got an email from Dropbox that says the new cloud file management used by Sierra could wreak havoc on my data if I'm using symlinks and Dropbox together. Time to kill the symlink to be safe. Thanks.

 

[Weaselboy]

If I used the command:
"ln -s ~/Documents ~/Dropbox/Documents"
to create a symlink, how do I now remove that symlink?

I got an email from Dropbox that says the new cloud file management used by Sierra could wreak havoc on my data if I'm using symlinks and Dropbox together. Time to kill the symlink to be safe. Thanks.

This command will remove the symlink. I got that same email. It only applies if you are using iCloud Drive with a symlink to Documents like you have. If you do not have iCloud Drive turned on, your existing symlink won't cause a problem.

unlink ~/Dropbox/Documents

 

[KALLT]

I got an email from Dropbox that says the new cloud file management used by Sierra could wreak havoc on my data if I'm using symlinks and Dropbox together. Time to kill the symlink to be safe. Thanks.

This is only a problem if you enable ‘Documents & Desktop’ in iCloud Drive. If you don’t use it, you can keep the symlink.