How to Link and use two or more Dropbox Accounts simultaneously

General idea [source]

The basic idea is to just start Dropbox from the command-line using an alternate home directory. This will create another Dropbox icon, and another Dropbox folder, which has to be in some other place from the original one.

The two Dropbox folders will both be called Dropbox (this cannot be changed), but you can distinguish them by their location.

enter image description here

Setup

Method: 1 - If you have installed nautilus-dropbox from the repository

Open a terminal and paste the following commands:

$ mkdir "$HOME"/.dropbox-alt 
$ HOME="$HOME/.dropbox-alt"
$ /usr/bin/dropbox start -i

A new Dropbox setup wizard window will open and second Dropbox icon should appear on the status bar.

  • Choose an existing account (different from the original one!) or create a new one.
  • Make sure you choose an alternate location for your new Dropbox folder.

Now your alternate dropbox is set.

start Dropbox from terminal

$ /usr/bin/dropbox start -i

start Alternate-Dropbox from terminal

$ HOME="$HOME/.dropbox-alt" && /usr/bin/dropbox start -i

Method: 2 - If you have compiled dropbox in your home from tar.gz file

Open a terminal and paste the following commands:

$ mkdir "$HOME"/.dropbox-alt
$ ln -s "$HOME/.Xauthority" "$HOME/.dropbox-alt/"
$ HOME="$HOME/.dropbox-alt"
$ /home/$USER/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

Dropbox setup wizard window will appear. Finish the setup similarly as described in Method -1

start Dropbox from terminal

$ /home/$USER/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

start Alternate-Dropbox from terminal

$ HOME="$HOME/.dropbox-alt" && /home/$USER/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

Note:

  • You can create a small script with the above commands to start Dropbox.
  • One can put the script at startup. Don't forget to give the script execution permission. 
chmod +x /path/to/script
  • I have tested the second method. Hope it will be useful.

The multiple fake home directories method works until Dropbox updates itself; if you find that you have this working and then it stops working, see https://realflash.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/multiple-dropboxes-stops-working-only-one-at-a-time/

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