How to rename the ‘My Dropbox’ folder on Windows
I use dropbox to synchronize key files (like my KeePass databases) between home and work machines. It works great, except for one thing that I really hate: the Dropbox developers have decided that I cannot be trusted to decide what to call my dropbox folder; only to choose where it goes. Wherever I pick, the client creates a folder called ‘My Dropbox’ and puts my files there. But I don’t want that.
In old builds of the client you could choose the name, but despite a number of complaints on the support forums, Dropbox developers have not seen fit to correct this oversight.
I set about to determine where this is stored and how to change it. I found out the dropbox.db file in my <user>\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox folder on Windows 7 is a SQLite 3 database. Using a SQLite database GUI I opened it up and found a table called ‘config’, with a value called ‘dropbox_path’. The value appeared to base base64 encoded.
I exported the column to a file and opened that file in WinHex. I had to drop an extra carriage-return from the file, then WinHex was able to do the base64-binary conversion. The path was a little weird looking, with the backslashes escaped as Unicode character codes, but it wasn’t hard to change. I then re-encoded the file to base64, imported the base64 encoded version back into the column in the SQL database, and voila!
I did have to manually copy over my dropbox files from the previous folder location, but otherwise it seems to work fine.
After I did all that, I noticed in the forums that someone already has a python script to do just that. Oh well. I still got the satisfaction of reverse engineering around a stupid limitation in the tool.
What blows my mind is that even after multiple users have written little tools to solve this problem, the Dropbox team still haven’t taken a fucking hint and incorporated back into the client. If it wasn’t such a cool service I’d quit using it on the basis of that bullshit alone.
August 24th, 2009 - 08:06
TD there is somebody who hates “My … ” stupid folder name, like myself
Thanks!
September 14th, 2009 - 03:27
I completely agree. LiveSync was the thing that first got me interested, if not for your post I would go back NOW.
September 24th, 2009 - 20:31
I have inserted a new base64 encoded string for that key in my database, but when I start dropbox it complains that my dropbox is missing and wants it put back.
November 16th, 2009 - 21:52
hey man, that is a very helpful host.. …comp savy, but can’t get that python script… seems to be a dead link. any other ideas?
November 24th, 2009 - 09:40
So true.. I wouldn’t even mind so much, if they’d just have “Dropbox” as a default, but “My Dropbox” sucks bad (as folder names with spaces in general). Unfortunately the python script you linked to doesen’t exist anymore, but this looks like a bit easier way: http://sproket90.blogspot.com/2008/06/dropbox-change-folder.html Have to test it once i get home.
January 15th, 2010 - 16:02
Hey thanx! I’ve searched the whole Internet trying to find the solution for this (even checked Dropbox forums and didn’t find anything about python script) issue and found only here!
For some people it is very critical to keep things organized and the name of the folder with the spaces for some applications just don’t work.
January 15th, 2010 - 16:09
Absolutely. To many people it probably seems like a stupid thing to worry about, but the ‘My ‘ thing drove me up the wall.
January 19th, 2010 - 03:11
Another one joins the anti “My …” club.
EVERYTHING in “My Documents” imho is already “My …”ified thus shouldn’t need a “My ” prefix!
January 19th, 2010 - 09:37
Thankfully there seems to be a movement away from that in Windows 7. In earlier versions I redirected the special folders to folder without the ‘My’ prefix.
January 31st, 2010 - 03:02
Totally agree. Annoying space breaks applications! It’s foolish to follow the “My …” naming convention in Windows.
February 4th, 2010 - 11:03
I agree, it is annoying – especially if you’re paying for it. But I think it’s an issue of branding. If you rename the folder, you’re no longer thinking about their brand every time you work in that folder. I can’t see any other reason for them continuing to require the name. At least on macs it’s /Dropbox rather than /My Dropbox.
February 13th, 2010 - 13:16
My Thanks.
March 2nd, 2010 - 10:47
I’ve found an easier, and much faster way to do this. Just install the 0.6.384 version and at the end of the installation it allows you to choose the default location. You can download the version here: http://wiki.dropbox.com/ChangeLogs. Scroll to the bottom of the page and notice that it is even noted to be the last version to “allow 100% custom Dropbox folder location”. After installation it will automatically update to the latest version and still retain the location without the annoying “My Dropbox”.
March 2nd, 2010 - 11:57
That’s true, but I hate running ancient builds of software. That build had some rather annoying issues, like constantly popping up sync notifications even when it wasn’t syncing.
April 7th, 2010 - 07:13
for programming reason “My Dropbox” will not work for me. I need a fix for this asap.
April 19th, 2010 - 09:57
Maybe time to take a look at Syncplicity ? http://www.syncplicity.com . It does the same like Dropbox, but a little bit nicer.
June 23rd, 2010 - 13:20
I am linux/windows user. In linux I have “Dropbox” in windows “My Dropbox”. Have recommended this tool to many folks (i work in hospital systems support) and have extra +1gig, but seems because of stupid “My *” will switch to something else. Sorry Dropbox, you are not good enough for me!
July 26th, 2010 - 20:59
DropboxPath is a handy tool to relocate the existing folder to a new name, and seems to do the trick:
http://wiki.dropbox.com/DropboxAddons/DropboxPath
The “My” naming just makes things inconsistent – I can’t find “Dropbox” because I’m looking in the “D”s instead of the “M”s. But there’s no point to naming *everything* “My” – then it’s just wasting space. And it doesn’t convey any useful information – of course it’s “My” folder. It’s just useless.