Windows 10: File history not backing up Dropbox folder

HiI use Dropbox cloud backup of my disk, but I also like to keep an extra local backup on a NAS drive using Windows File History. It has worked well for may years, but as of recently, File History just skips everything in the Dropbox folder other folders work OK. I tried switching File history off and on again. I tried adding the Dropbox folder as an explicit folder for File History to back up, but it has no effect and it still skips the whole Dropbox folder. Is this an intentional new feature of File Hisory? Is there some way to force File History to back up also the Dropbox folder?Kind reg

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File History and Dropbox

Hi all,



I am using Windows 11 File History for a physical backup of my files.



File History backs up everything in my C:\Users\[my name here] folder. This folder includes, among other things, my Documents, Pictures and Dropbox folders. Since the contents of my Documents and Pictures folders have been backed up to Dropbox and thus have been moved to the Dropbox folder, should I exclude the (original) Documents and Pictures folders (now only shortcuts) from the File History backup?



I don't want to back up all these files twice, and I'm not sure how File History will process the two shortcut folders.



My File History drive is already such a mess that I can't tell what is being backed up and what isn't.



TIA.

 

File History and Dropbox

Hi Greg,

Thank you for the resources.

I see that my question could have been clearer. Given that my Documents folder has been moved to Dropbox (leaving a shortcut in its original location), if I want my Documents files to be backed up via File History, should I tell File History to back up C:\Users\[my name]\Documents -or- C:\Users\[my name]\Dropbox\PC\Documents?

TIA.

 

Dropbox folder on PC is not backed up by Windows 10

I thought that the Dropbox folder on my desktop (I have installed the desktop app) was just like any other folder on my PC. But it is not included in the backup made by Windows 10’s Backup and Restore (Windows 7). The Dropbox folder is not in the Exclude
these folders list.

I raised this in the Dropbox forum and was told that the Dropbox folder was just like any other folder and should be backed up (the responder said their Dropbox folder was backed up by Windows), and that if the problem continued I should raise it in the
Windows forum.

Since there is a copy of my Dropbox folder in the cloud you could argue that it is unnecessary to have it backed up locally as well. But the Windows File History goes back further than Dropbox’s.