Can't see a folder people shared with me in my own Dropbox folder

Question

Someone shared a folder with me on Dropbox and I can’t see this folder in my Dropbox folder at home. I have to access it through the Dropbox website.

I thought it was supposed to be visible on every PC that has access to the folder, so people can just copy and paste the files from that folder to their own computer.

Or is it normal that I have to access it through the website?

Answer 1

I had a similar issue, but in my case it was purely a misunderstaning of the Dropbox UI.

When you click the link in the email you get when someone shares a folder with you, there is a "Download" button up at the right on the website you come to (see this screenshot). I thought that button meant that I would download the files once to my local drive – while that is true, it turns out it was also the way to add the folder to your Dropbox.

In case you too missed the function of that button, just click it and select "Add to my Dropbox" (again, see the screenshot).

Answer 2

I had the same issue. In my situation, the cause was the use of vertical bar in the naming of the folders—this is incompatible with Windows.

Source.