I have been trying to find out a way to do this for a while, but time constrains never let me get to the bottom of it!
Finally with some time on my hands I managed to find the answer and it’s really easy to do. There are several ways to do this, but for me the easiest is to use Automator and create a shadow dropbox app.
To get this working you will need to create an Automator workflow to run a shell script and then add this to your log in items.
Creating a Custom Dropbox App:
- Launch Automator and create a new workflow using the Application template
- Add a Run Shell Script action:
- open Library > Utilities
- drag the Run Shell Script action to your workflow space on the right
- remove default text (cat) from the script window
- Paste in the following code (change the folder “ChangeMe” to the desired name):
bash
HOME=$HOME/ChangeMe /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox &
NB: At this stage you can test from Automator by pressing the Run button at the top right, this (if working) will launch the setup wizard for Dropbox;
You don’t need to go through the wizard at this stage
- Save your application
- in Automator, select File > Save
- name and save somewhere that makes sense to you. My suggestion is to save your application in the Applications Folder. The name should match the value of $HOME from the bash script (e.g. Dropbox_Amsys your user folder).
NB: You should also save the workflow in case you want to use it later.
- You can now quit Automator.
Once you have saved your custom Dropbox application, you can test it by double-clicking the application. This should launch your new Dropbox instance again.
This time you can go through the wizard.
Set App to Launch at Login
If you want your custom Dropbox app to launch at login, you will need to add it to your login items.
- Open System Preferences > Users & Groups
- Select your account selected on the left, select Login Items on the right
- Click the plus button below the list of login items to add a new item
- Browse to the folder where you saved your custom app, click to select it, then click Add
Or Drag the app to your log in items window.
How to Differentiate Between Accounts
Dropbox offers the option to use a black and white icon. To change these settings you go to Preferences > General.
If you really want you can also change the icon of your custom app.