Clean Uninstall Dropbox on macOS and Reset File Provider

While testing multiple Dropbox accounts on macOS at the same time through Parall, I needed one Dropbox instance to run without File Provider.

That should have been a temporary setup choice. Instead, I ran into a Dropbox bug. After File Provider was disabled, I could not turn it back on again from the app.

That sent me into the local Dropbox state on macOS. I wanted to understand what had to be removed before Dropbox would behave like a fresh install again.

While looking into that, I noticed something bigger. Dropbox creates a lot of files and folders that most users never see. If someone drags Dropbox to the Trash, many local pieces can remain behind.

So I decided to make a script that removes Dropbox completely from macOS. As a side effect, it also fixed the File Provider issue for me.

Originally published at https://reverseeverything.com on June 18, 2026.

How I traced the files

To avoid guessing, I started with a clean macOS virtual machine in UTM.

First I dumped the filesystem structure before Dropbox was installed. Then I installed Dropbox, logged in, authorized it, and dumped the filesystem structure again.