Move Desktop to Dropbox

I sometimes use my computer’s desktop to store newly-created files or newly-downloaded files that I’m working on. On more than one occasion I have gotten home only to realize that the files I want are on my work desktop.

A solution comes to us from this Lifehacker blog post.

The author of the post goes so far as to sync both desktops. That’s more than what I need. I just want to access the files on my work desktop from home.

The solution: Change the location of my work computer’s desktop folder. (Did you know that what shows on your desktop is just stuff stored in a folder called “desktop”?)

First, in Dropbox, create a folder called “Desktop.”

Next, on your work computer navigate to your “User” folder. To get there, go to your computer’s hard drive, click on “Users,” then your login name. The “Desktop” folder should be there.

Right click on the “Desktop” folder and select “Properties.” Click on the “Location” tab. Click “Move,” then navigate to the “Desktop” folder you created in your “Dropbox” folder. Click “Select Folder.”

Done.

Anything saved on your work computer’s desktop will now be available to you in the “Desktop” folder in Dropbox. Any file you add to that folder from, say, your home computer, will show on your work computer’s desktop when you get back to the office. How cool is that?

*****

In other news, as of February 2012, Dropbox.com “adhere[s] to the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework.” See this Dropbox.com blog post for more information.

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12 thoughts on “Move Desktop to Dropbox

  1. Quick Recommendation: Check out the latest SyncBlaze offered by Vembu. Syncblaze does the same thing as Dropbox with lots more additional features. Try it out yourself.

  2. SyncBlaze looks like it’s for businesses, not for individual users. Or that seems to be who they’re marketing to on their website.

  3. Hello I accidentally clicked on “Move to Dropbox” when i right clicked on my desktop background. My dropbox then showed up a “Desktop” folder which is linked with my desktop. I tried to delete the “Desktop” folder from Dropbox folder but it then delete my Desktop on my pc as well. How can i completely remove the Desktop folder from Dropbox without deleting the original one in pc?

  4. Quann, you should be able to move the folder out of Dropbox. Instead of the folder being inside of the Dropbox folder, it’s in the folder that Dropbox is in. Does that make sense?

  5. Hello, how can I move the desktop folder to inside the dropbox folder on windows 8? There is no location tab in properties. Thank you.

  6. Hi, I figured it out. I’m not sure what I did the first time but your instructions work. Many thanks.

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