How to completely uninstall Dropbox on Mac
Dragging Dropbox to the Trash removes the app itself, but its support files, caches and settings stay on your Mac. Here is where they are and how to remove all of them.
The folder ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox is your Dropbox folder, and any files there that have not finished uploading exist only on this Mac. The app also installs helper tools in /Library, an updater launch agent and several Finder extensions.
Wait until Dropbox shows that everything is up to date, then sign out or unlink this Mac in Dropbox preferences and quit the app. Do not delete the Dropbox folder until you have confirmed your files are on dropbox.com.
com.getdropbox.dropboxRemove Dropbox by hand
- Quit Dropbox. If it has a menu bar icon or runs in the background, quit that too.
- Open the Applications folder and drag Dropbox to the Trash.
- In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), paste each location below, and move what you find to the Trash. Not every location exists for every version.
- Empty the Trash, then restart your Mac so nothing from Dropbox is left running.
Where Dropbox keeps its files
/Applications/Dropbox.app~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox~/Library/Application Support/DropboxElectron~/Library/Caches/com.getdropbox.dropbox~/Library/Preferences/com.getdropbox.dropbox.plist~/Library/Saved Application State/com.getdropbox.dropbox.savedState~/Library/Containers/com.getdropbox.dropbox~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.getdropbox.dropbox~/Library/WebKit/com.getdropbox.dropbox~/Library/Logs/Dropbox~/Library/Logs/DropboxElectron
Other places Dropbox uses
~/.dropboxData~/Library/DropboxPrivileged helper~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plistLaunch agent~/Library/Containers/com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileproviderContainer~/Library/Containers/com.getdropbox.dropbox.garconContainer~/Library/Containers/com.getdropbox.dropbox.TransferExtensionContainer~/Library/Group Containers/com.getdropbox.dropbox.garconContainer~/Library/Caches/com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdateData/Library/DropboxHelperToolsPrivileged helper
Items under /Library need your administrator password to remove.
The quick way
Diskzy finds Dropbox and the files listed here, shows the size of each one, and moves them to the Trash together. Files that another app also uses are left alone.
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