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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 extremel...
Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi 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!
Hi,
Please give a solution ASAP to this problem that is very bothersome.
In my case, my system does not see DropBox files at all. Finder does not see DropBox. I have to open the Dropbox folder directly from the top bar icon, and when I tried to save a quick link in the sidebar of Finder, the files inside were not viewable from that quick link.
My issue is with searching the Dropbox folder in Finder, as previously stated - I'm sure this is connected to Spotlight somehow, but I'm not trying to search directly via the Spotlight (CMD-Spacebar) interface.
I have definitely opened the Dropbox folder in Finder many times since the update so I don't think that's the issue.
- Hannah
This solution worked for me, thanks.
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)
Hi,
I'm on macOS Ventura 13.0 and Dropbox v160.3.4650 (apparently a beta ? Is Ventura / Apple Silicon supported in mainline Dropbox these days ?)
In Spotlight (cmd+space) :
Searching for a file in the Dropbox folder *by name* works, but not *by content* (PDF files that should be indexed without a problem)
In Finder search : neither by name nor by content works in the Dropbox folder.
In the Dropbox app search : by name works, by content works for *some* (possibly older ?) files but not all.
Elsewhere on the same volume is fine.
I have tried adding then removing the Dropbox folder to the Spotlight privacy exceptions list, that didn't help.
Any clues ?Thanks
I'm not with dropbox, but from what I've understood after talking to support for awhile. The update of the location was forced down by the new MacOS, so they had to update the location to be compliant. Unfortunately, it breaks searching in dropbox and there doesn't seem to be a clear fix yet.
Personally, I updated to MacOs 13.1 lately and it has fixed the spotlight previewing items held in dropbox to some extent.
However, the following are still issues:
1. still can not open files to their location in finder like before.
2. a search in finder will not display dropbox items or their contents even though they will show up in a spotlight search
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)
Hi,
I have used Dropbox on Mac for many years.
I tag many of my files in Finder for easy search and can search within specific folders for files that contain the tag.
However, since the latest Dropbox update where it moved all the Files to the "Locations" sidebar in Finder, this search functionality within the Dropbox folders no longer works. If I search "This Mac" I can find the tagged folders but if I want to search a specific folder that is in Dropbox it won't work.
Would appreciate any tips or tricks to resolve this, thanks!
Hi David:
Thanks for your post. The solution "kind of" works.
It works in that the folder is now searchable using Finder's search window (and Spotlight too),BUT
I cannot seem to limit the search to ONLY DropBox (the "Search: This Mac" is selected and "DropBox" cannot be selected in the search bar in the Finder Window when attempting to do a multi-criteria search.) Hence it does not seem possible to filter the search by locations within DropBox - which is quite critical for me.
The only way I can search *only* within DropBox is to use the DropBox app (in the menubar), but that method does not allow for a multi-criteria search like one can do from within the Finder window.
Have you encountered this issue, or did the process you outline fix that problem for you completely (i.e. you did not encounter the problem that I did.)- Megan
Hi cseow, thanks for the added info!
Could you also provide a couple of screenshots of the behavior you described above, in order for me to have a visual of this?
Today I had the opposite issue. I searched something within a Finder window, limited to a location outside of Dropbox (i.e. the Downloads folder) and it showed up results, that were moved to the Dropbox folder before.
Needless to say, it should have not shown those results anymore...
I tried the re-indexing process described by davidarden and (in my case) it DID allow me to search by tags...
BUT
I was however unable to limit my search to any location within DropBox.
The issue for me seems to be more that Finder cannot search within DropBox ONLY, and therefore I cannot narrow my criteria by location of the file. The other search filter criteria such as tags, file types, (I have not tried them all) seem to work - at least for those I tried.Hope this helps.
Thanks - I will search for that solution and see if it works. Have to say, I'm not entirely hopeful and I am really frustrated with dropbox (as, it seems, are many others).
Update:
I tried re-indexing again (same thing I did last time) as originally recommended and it now seems to work. I can't remember if there was an update to Dropbox in the meantime or whether it was something else. I don't know why I tried it again but thought I should just try it again.
So I guess if it did not work for you the first time, try it a second time?
Same exact issue here, unable to search within folders in DropBox, but can find files in Dropbox when I expand the search to the entire filesystem.
I am having the same problem with the search feature for dropbox files but in Mac OS Ventura 13.1
Search feature works everywhere EXCEPT dropbox on the desktop version. I can still search when I use the online version, but I don't use that much, so it's pretty frustrating not to be able to search from my desktop anymore. Happened as soon as I updated to the new OS. Everything has worked fine and dandy for years and years running Dropbox on my mac.
