You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

meganh32's avatar
meganh32
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago

How to view previews of online-only files on desktop (like how you can in the mobile app)? - macOS

I'm trying to figure out how to see previews, specifically of .jpeg online files, on my mac desktop. I use Dropbox almost exclusively for photo management and it's frustrating not even being able to ...
Desktop
Preview
View
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

Thanks for the info, if the files are online-only, then there isn't any local data in them, meaning there isn't any image to preview, unless you mark the file as available offline.

PabloBe's avatar
PabloBe
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Hello There,

 

I have the same issue, and despite it's not bothering me too much, It might be a good idea to add an app option for downloading the thumbnails only for preview. It is a little strange actually. I switched from web browser client to the app and it downloaded all the thumbnails of files already existed.

So what's the issue here?
I set up the "online only" option for purpose and I am (and I assume for hundreds of other people too) perfectly fine with it. Downloading the thumbnail data however, would be a good option.

I could switch back to the web browser client but unfortunately something has messed with the upload speed lately through that option. And if I still want to use Dropbox - it is the only solution for me.

Fingers crossed for that thumbnails!

  • tonyfelicepr's avatar
    tonyfelicepr
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    Hi there, I'm running 13.5.2 (22G91) OS on a Mac Studio (2022) - Chip is Apple M1 Max with 64Gigs of memory.

     

    Using finder, it is not possible to see a thumbnail image of anything stored online. Dropbox's response that only locally stored files can be seen is problematic. It is not feasible for us to carry 1TB on all computers just to see an thumbnail icon for files. 

     

    This also affects *some files stored locally that have to be clicked or previewed to populate a thumbnail.

     

    It is a good feature for Dropbox to create that populates a thumbnail from files stored online-only. It makes searching for and retrieving creative documents extremely difficult. 

     

    Creative agencies, engineering firms, and those who rely on graphic images really need to be able to see thumbnails in the Mac Finder App. Or a compatible finder could be created by you that serves that purpose - again icon views of thumbnails is essential.

     

    This used to exist years ago, based on my recollection. It was never a problem until about three or four years ago.

     

    Thanks.

  • tonyfelicepr's avatar
    tonyfelicepr
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    This has been an ongoing issue for years and Dropbox still has not come up with a solution. It's to the point that after 10 years we may be leaving Dropbox. As a creative agency we cannot store all of our files locally, why bother using the cloud? That dropbox has not discovered a way around this shows a complete misunderstanding of your customers and their needs. I've wasted hours on the phone with dropbox techs and no one has a solution.

     

     

  • G R A N T's avatar
    G R A N T
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    AGREED. not being able to utilize the thumbnail previews in Finder makes using Dropbox inefficient. Looking for a solution from DB or may have to switch service or solutions. Thanks. g

  • G R A N T's avatar
    G R A N T
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago

    Hello Walter I tried running the beta version you noted above in an earlier post. It looks like the Beta will allow for Finder to display thumbnails of image files and PDFs. This is a big improvement. I hope this fix in beta remains in the next permanent version. Thanks. G

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 years ago

    Hi G R A N T,  sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

     

    Could you please let us know some additional information so that we can look into this further?

     

    For example, what is your computer's exact OS version and the version of the Dropbox desktop app installed there as well?

     

    Any additional information is more than welcome! 

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