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Toolbox Issue

bschottmi's Avatar

bschottmi

08 Aug, 2025 12:05 AM

I just created a brand new MD file, but each time I run Toolbox I get this message:
"Your Dropbox location appears to have been migrated .. but there is problem with the Alias from the old location Use 'Update Mode' Menu: Advanced Options to attempt a fix....
... (you may have to perform a manual fix)..." I did the advanced options but that did not work told me to fix it manually by renaming $HOME/Dropbox then relauuch MD. When I did that MD refused to start since it could not find Dropbox.
Interestingly, Syncing with my Macbook Air using "Dropbox Connection" is working just fine so I plan to ignore this warning. But I did want to report it is case something needs to be fixed in the Toolbox. I am running v1068.

  1. 1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 08 Aug, 2025 06:08 AM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    Hmm.

    Can you tell me the exact Dropbox path you have now? Can you also send a Finder SS of one page of that .moneydancesync folder’s contents. Can you also confirm that the original path 100% no longer exists?

    Can you also clarify ‘ MD refused to start since it could not find Dropbox’ and what exact error message you get? Also grab help/show console and upload that as a txt file.

  2. 2 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 09 Aug, 2025 07:50 AM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    ?

  3. 3 Posted by bschottmi on 09 Aug, 2025 01:21 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

  4. 4 Posted by bschottmi on 11 Aug, 2025 10:56 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    From the toolbox:

    SYNC DETAILS
    Sync Password: ***************
    Dropbox Folder Migrated: *** YOU APPEAR TO HAVE A MISSING SYSTEM
    ALIAS TO NEW DROPBOX LOCATION ***
    Sync Method:
    DropboxAPI:/.moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f
    Sync local disk/url location: '
    https://www.dropbox.com/home/.moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f
    ''

     I'm using Dropbox Connection. I did a cd .moneydancesync and captured an
    ls -l into a text file. The result is attached.
    I went to
    https://www.dropbox.com/home/.moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f'
    and did a screen print which is also attached
    I have no idea how to check if the original patch exists since I do not
    know what it is. The .moneydancesync directory does contain a LOT of
    old files. Is it OK to remove all but the "3e38*" one? I have started
    and stopped syncing many times in the past years, with mixed results so
    these are old files that have no usefulness to me at this time.

    Please advise as to next steps.

    Bill

  5. 5 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 02:06 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    Stuart - is it OK to remove all the .moneydance/ entries except the one good one? I am only syncing with one device, although I may add my IPad in the coming weeks.
    Please advise

    Bill

  6. 6 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 02:20 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    1. Please also clarify ‘MD refused to start since it could not find Dropbox’, and what exact error message you get?

    2. Also grab help/show console and upload that as a txt file.

  7. 7 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 02:25 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    Also. In finder. I need to see the whole path name from your root folder, not just from the sync folder. Can you see/send that?

  8. 8 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 02:27 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    Anyway. If you only have one sync relationship then you must keep.

    .moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f

    And you can delete any other long number folders in that top level sync .moneydancesync/ folder.

    Always backup first.

  9. 9 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 02:34 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    Maybe this?

    ls -ld $PWD/*

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 9 2013
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/2a975127-df37-466d-8e7e-a0203bc1a609

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jul 30 16:01
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/2cc3ef81-9a48-4e26-99f7-9d3ffe7992a4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 3 2022
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/321d334d-c68a-4e26-b61b-12ec104f4f28

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:59
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/34d87877-ed63-49cc-ae00-f37eb3b9fc7d

    drwxr-xr-x@ 9 billschott staff 288 Apr 10 11:58
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/3869466a-8f09-49ba-aca8-d11d4dcda2be

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Jul 30 15:34
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 9 2013
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/437c3da9-6da1-406a-8ea2-b7cf6ab89668

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 4 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/44e2300f-54c1-49c2-a351-9a04aba748f4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/47a4b212-d1d6-4a25-8a2b-e5f79639f933

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 3 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/721caa4e-bdff-4525-81c4-2ca91c5a970d

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 6 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/72e956e4-3178-4b3e-b37a-7ca2f3accd6f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 13 billschott staff 416 Apr 10 11:57
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/762a4f58-e778-479f-944e-42ff6080f70e

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/77f2300d-0fbd-4bf7-aba5-947c7e0b7e6f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 110 billschott staff 3520 Apr 18 15:28
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/8f4f60e2-4b20-4ff3-9d9f-ee0880889910

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:54
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/90925a89-47f8-48dc-a634-784a02921bd8

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:56
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/93caef70-2e5a-4f81-baa8-4b09db143e34

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 29 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/a5069648-2dca-49e3-b3bb-a0edccb4e613

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 22 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/af2b4495-d198-49f2-a66e-825803d05c4b

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 4 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/cea098f0-7c97-4654-a488-d9da4578e682

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/d8e58b5a-4a26-48c0-8ccf-d90b94531fb4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 May 14 10:26
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/eac0c49b-9e0f-4dee-9157-03a25932ad94

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 29 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/eafa99c9-7e62-4de4-8975-c2becc9e2d2c

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2022
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/f9d918dc-7159-4a12-bac9-0621c742ab41

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/ff2b01d8-4ebd-43bd-a98e-c34050348103

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 14 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/ff85f6f3-cd51-49ad-be11-5c5d9b0ac98b

    Mac-mini:.moneydancesync billschott$

    I'm not sure how in unix to get the complete path so I added a "pwd"
    command after issuing the ls -l command. I hope that tells you what you
    want.

    Maybe this?

    ls -ld $PWD/*

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 9 2013
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/2a975127-df37-466d-8e7e-a0203bc1a609

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jul 30 16:01
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/2cc3ef81-9a48-4e26-99f7-9d3ffe7992a4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 3 2022
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/321d334d-c68a-4e26-b61b-12ec104f4f28

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:59
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/34d87877-ed63-49cc-ae00-f37eb3b9fc7d

    drwxr-xr-x@ 9 billschott staff 288 Apr 10 11:58
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/3869466a-8f09-49ba-aca8-d11d4dcda2be

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Jul 30 15:34
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/3e38ca92-0d98-432c-bf33-ae14af71971f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 9 2013
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/437c3da9-6da1-406a-8ea2-b7cf6ab89668

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 4 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/44e2300f-54c1-49c2-a351-9a04aba748f4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/47a4b212-d1d6-4a25-8a2b-e5f79639f933

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 3 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/721caa4e-bdff-4525-81c4-2ca91c5a970d

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 6 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/72e956e4-3178-4b3e-b37a-7ca2f3accd6f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 13 billschott staff 416 Apr 10 11:57
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/762a4f58-e778-479f-944e-42ff6080f70e

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/77f2300d-0fbd-4bf7-aba5-947c7e0b7e6f

    drwxr-xr-x@ 110 billschott staff 3520 Apr 18 15:28
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/8f4f60e2-4b20-4ff3-9d9f-ee0880889910

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:54
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/90925a89-47f8-48dc-a634-784a02921bd8

    drwxr-xr-x@ 7 billschott staff 224 Apr 10 11:56
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/93caef70-2e5a-4f81-baa8-4b09db143e34

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 29 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/a5069648-2dca-49e3-b3bb-a0edccb4e613

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 22 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/af2b4495-d198-49f2-a66e-825803d05c4b

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jan 4 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/cea098f0-7c97-4654-a488-d9da4578e682

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/d8e58b5a-4a26-48c0-8ccf-d90b94531fb4

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 May 14 10:26
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/eac0c49b-9e0f-4dee-9157-03a25932ad94

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Apr 29 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/eafa99c9-7e62-4de4-8975-c2becc9e2d2c

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2022
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/f9d918dc-7159-4a12-bac9-0621c742ab41

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Feb 19 2024
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/ff2b01d8-4ebd-43bd-a98e-c34050348103

    drwxr-xr-x@ 2 billschott staff 64 Jun 14 2019
    /Users/billschott/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/ff85f6f3-cd51-49ad-be11-5c5d9b0ac98b

    Mac-mini:.moneydancesync billschott$

  10. 10 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 03:03 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    I'm a bit reluctant to do the procedure to rename $HOME/Dropbox the launch. I've got Sync working to my Macbook Air and am leaving on vacation on Saturday and that ls what I will be recording my transactions on over the coming weeks. I did remove all other other .moneydancesync/ entries and MD launched OK. I just verified that Syncing to the MB Air still is operational.

    If I do that procedure (which requires me to turn off Sync!) and then rename Dropbox, launch and run the Toolbox Fix again, do I then quit and rename old_dropbox back to Dropbox? Then I have to reenable sync again.
    It just seems a bit risky to me if the only purpose is to remove the warning when I launch toolbox. Note: I also changed my backup folder to Google Drive.

    Unless you have something less invasive for me to do, I will wait until I'm back 2nd week of September to try this.
    Thanks for the prompt replies today!!

  11. 11 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 05:40 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    I don't want you to do anything. I want to understand the issue first.. OK?

    Please, for the third time of asking..:

    Clarify what exactly ‘MD refused to start since it could not find Dropbox’ means, and what exact error message you get? - or send me screenshot. Toolbox should continue to function?

    Also grab help/show console and upload that as a txt file?

    Thanks

  12. 12 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 06:54 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    See attached

  13. 13 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 07:06 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    Ok. That message is not coming from toolbox? Can we start again.

    What exact steps are you performing, and with what app/tool, to make that message appear?

    Thanks.

  14. 14 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 07:22 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    Here's what I did:

       1. Closed MD
       2. use finder to rename Dropbox to old_Dropbox
       3. Launched MD and got the alert (screenshot)
       4. Hit Quit button
       5. renamed old_dropbox to Dropbox
       6. Launched MD
       7. When to Help -> Console Log and pressed save

    I had earlier posted the message from Toolbox, I am adding that screen shot
    to this message.
    The above steps are what Toolbox told me to do when, in Update mode I went
    to Advanced Options and selected "Repair migrated Dropbox location alias"
    That is when MD would not start. For clarification I included the Unable to
    Repair screenshot. as well.

    Does that help?

    Bill

  15. 15 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 07:26 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    Ok. Here’s the logic.

    oldDropboxPath = /Users/xxx/Dropbox/
    newDropboxPath = /Users/xxx/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/

    Only if the new path exists… assume it’s migrated to new location

    Then check old path. If this exists and is an alias / symbolic link (ie not a real folder) then assume all is ok.

    However, if both paths exists, and are both plain folders then it’s an error.

    So:

    • do you have Dropbox client installed locally? Do you use it?

    • do both paths exists?

    • is one of these a symbolic link to the other?

    • do both locations have files in them? And are they different?

    Perhaps with the info above we can diagnose the issue.

  16. 16 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 07:30 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    From your steps above it looks like you didn’t follow them all?

    Ie switch to Dropbox to don’t sync BEFORE you quit and rename folder. Then relaunch MD. Then rerun toolbox fix.

    Anyway, don’t do anything. Just give me the info in my post above about old and new folders.
    Thanks.

  17. 17 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 07:44 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    I’m wondering if the new location exists and is empty? If it is, you could try deleting that?

  18. 18 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 08:19 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    True - I did not stop syncing. Don't want to lose that since it's
    working so well and I need to work this saturday.

  19. 19 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 08:36 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    Yes, both exist and both are Directories. Both have a 2 at the end of the
    ls -ald command

    Mac-mini:CloudStorage billschott$ ls -adl Drop*

    drwx------@ 36 billschott staff 1152 Jan 24 2025 Dropbox

    Mac-mini:~ billschott$ ls -ald Drop*

    drwx------@ 40 billschott staff 1280 Aug 2 09:35 Dropbox

    So are they both symbolic links?? (My unix is a bit rusty...)

    Yes, I am syncing locally. And I recall that either Apple or Dropbox
    moved to "Cloud Storage" in an OS upgrade a while back - probably when I
    upgraded to Sierra OS 15) That caused a TON of my alias' to break and have
    to be recreated.

    Both have different space usages. I'm actually not sure which is real and
    which is out of date. That would take a bit of research.
    Yes ,the files appear to be slightly different. Upon further checking, the
    $HOME one appears to be more current. But I should verify that with the
    web version of Dropbox. Yes the $HOME one matches https://dropbox.com/home/

    Clearly not what I expected.

  20. 20 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 14 Aug, 2025 10:05 PM

    Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)'s Avatar

    OK, it seems your structure is wrong...

    you should be seeing this symlink in your (old) Dropbox folder...

    pwd
/Users/Stu
ls -lah Dropbox
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 stu  staff    39B 18 Jan  2023 Dropbox -> /Users/stu/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
    (the l at the start means symlink)

    to make this symlink you need to do this:

    cd ~
ln -s Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox Dropbox

    BUT before you start, the non-symlink (old) Dropbox folder can't be there.

    NOTE: If dropbox has been migrated to the new location, and MD is syncing (to the non symlink Dropbox folder) - which it will do by default, then you are creating sync files that will not sync or go anywhere!

    IMHO you need to clean this up.. You need to see what's in each location, determine whether it has been migrated to new location, rename the old, create the symlink, fix syncing....

  21. 21 Posted by bschottmi on 14 Aug, 2025 10:33 PM

    bschottmi's Avatar

    Thanks - that makes sense, but I need to be careful about what data is
    correct. I will address this when I come back from vacation.

    Bill

  22. System closed this discussion on 13 Nov, 2025 10:40 PM.

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