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Forum Discussion
Dropbox not searchable in MacOS Ventura 13.1
Since the recent Dropbox update, I can no longer search for files in Dropbox on my Mac. I have been using Dropbox for over 10 years and have never had this problem before. It's making life extremely difficult and making me think about moving entirely to Google Drive, although I don't really like Google that much. But at least it's free, whereas I am now paying Dropbox for a less functional service than I had previously.
Does anyone know how to get this function back?
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi ptetta, happy February 1st!
Are you referring to Spotlight? Which version of the Dropbox app you have installed to the device?
Any screenshots you want to share, that demonstrate what you mentioned, and what you see when you try to search for a file, are welcome.
Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!
I found a solution on this forum.
This solution came from davidarden. It worked for me. I can now search my Dropbox folders when I couldn't before (on MacOS 13.1)
Tutorial is here on apple's forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253479408
Just giving credit where credit is due.
In case that goes away, instructions are also listed below.
- Open System Preferences and go to Spotlight's Privacy tab.
- Add the entire hard disk INTO the Privacy list.
- Maybe wait 30s.
- Remove the hard disk FROM the Privacy list.
Spotlight will re-index. After finish re-indexing, the search in folder works for me.
(To see if Spotlight is indexing, use Command+Space to invoke Spotlight, and type in something. Wait a second. You should see a progress bar to show indexing progress)
I have the same problem. It started after a recent update of Dropbox. There was a question if I wanted to protect my files and I accepted, because protected soundsbetter than unprotected. Then Dropbox somehow moved all files. The Dropbox icon was moved further down in the Finder menu at the same time.
Since then searches don't include files on Dropbox and that is where 99% of my files are.
I have MacOS Ventura 13.1 and Dropbox v 166.4.2920
Please help solve this!
- Megan
Hi Mona_Protea, thanks for posting here!
Could you send me a couple of screenshots demonstrating what you see on your end, when trying to search for files?
Keep me posted, and we'll take it form there.
I just tried dragging and dropping my screenshot files. Hopefully, they are readable on your end.
Actually I'm on Ventura 13.2 with an M1 iMac, and have updated to have Dropbox under Library/CloudStorage with all files and folders available offline.
Finder search cannot find dropbox files when using Dropbox as the search start. If I search "This Mac" they are all found. Spotlight search finds them all as well. I disconnected my computer from Dropbox, erased the folder and other associated files in Library, and then reconnected and downloaded everything. This did not help.
Hi Megan - I have two screen shots but don't see where/how to attache them to this message. I also don't know the version number for Dropbox, but I updated to the newest version about two weeks ago and that was when the problem started. The first screen shows a search in "This Mac" for a document with a name that contains "Budget." When I search that way, I get 1,258 results returned. The second shows the same search, but using my primary Dropbox folder. When I search that way, I get 0 results returns. This is using Finder, which is how I have always searched in Dropbox -- for more than 10 years now. This search function has been the primary advantage of Dropbox over Google Drive, which is what most of my clients use and would prefer for me to use. I have always insisted on Dropbox because it has always made it so much easier search for document. If that functionality has gone away, I have lost my main reason for not shifting to Google Drive. Can you help?
- Dropbox we need a fix or at least some communication!
If I can’t search my files I can’t continue with Dropbox.
I tried the option above of reindexing my whole hard drive on my Mac. No luck. 😞Did you try this solution? If this doesn't work, I don't know what to do.
This solution came from @davidarden. It worked for me. I can now search my Dropbox folders when I couldn't before (on MacOS 13.1)
Tutorial is here on apple's forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253479408
Just giving credit where credit is due.
In case that goes away, instructions are also listed below.
- Open System Preferences and go to Spotlight's Privacy tab.
- Add the entire hard disk INTO the Privacy list.
- Maybe wait 30s (I closed the window then re-opened it).
- Remove the hard disk FROM the Privacy list.
Spotlight will re-index. After finish re-indexing, the search in folder works for me.
(To see if Spotlight is indexing, use Command+Space to invoke Spotlight, and type in something. Wait a second. You should see a progress bar to show indexing progress)
- Thanks for replying.
After reindexing my whole Mac hard drive as above I did the Dropbox folder again.
Sort of improved. Not perfect but better. I think. ThanksJust adding: it worked for me – thanks so much!
Hello everyone!
I bought a mac studio running ventura, and I cannot search my dropbox folder. If I search from the root directory everything works fine, but if I search within the dropbox folder no results appear.
Another interesting thing is that initially "older" files and folders would appear in the search, but newer files not!
I wiped everything and reinstalled from scratch and restored from time machine and from a CCC disk backup, and now none of the files appear in the search results.
I tried forcing a reindexing but that does not seam to work.
I tried installing a new dropbox app and allowing the dropbox folder to be populated from the cloud, and that does not seem to work either...
Any help would be appreciated
- Hannah
Hey gzamba, sorry to see you're having trouble with this.
If you've rebuilt your spotlight index and it's still not working, perhaps you can try the solution provided by another user here, as it seems to have worked for other users as well.
I have tried that and it did not work.
I wiped everything again and reinstalled everything, then restored my files from my backup without linking the dropbox app.
everything works fine within the dropbox folder which is now just an ordinary folder (since dropbox is not active).
Once I link and activate dropbox, spotlight search within the dropbox folder does not work!!!
Also, if I log in from a different account, that does not have dropbox, then searching within the dropbox folder of the main account works fine!!!
All of this makes sense to me. The problem lies with dropbox and ventura and how they interact...
I guess that if I let the new dropbox app move my dropbox folder to the cloudstorage folder functionality should be restored???
Any ideas?
