How to Get Dropbox to Backup Files in Other Directories on Windows

If you’re using Dropbox (affiliate link), and you should be, because it’s awesome, you might have noticed that Dropbox will only backup/sync files inside your drop box folder; you can’t tell Dropbox to also sync with other folders.

Now, if you’re on a Mac or Linux system, just add a symlink inside your dropbox folder that points to the other folder you’d like to sync.

On Windows, if you want Dropbox to sync folders outside of your “My Dropbox” folder, you’ll want to use the mklink command to create a directory junction pointing to the other folder you want synced. For example, if you want Dropbox to sync c:\source_code, open a command prompt, navigate to your dropbox directory (cd “My Dropbox”) and type:

(Assuming you’ve already navigated to your “My Dropbox” folder)
mklink /J source_code c:\source_code

Bam. That’s it. Dropbox is now following the link inside the “My Dropbox” directory and it’s syncing c:\source_code because it thinks it’s just another folder in the dropbox. Enjoy!