As of today drop box is causing the file icons in ANY/ALL open explorer windows to flash constantly between the correct icon image and the default windows 'no icon' icon. if i KILL the dropbox process magically all the icon switching stops, thi sis constant and doesnt seem to stop! What can i do? I also seem to have 3 DropBoxThumnbailGenerator.exe processes running? Thanks

I have been having the flashing or blinking icons in File Explorer for several months now. I have reached out to Dropbox Support and have reloaded and clean installed etc. to no avail. I have also sent them videos of the screen. As other have reported I have the idential issue on three computers, quite high end specs, two laptops and a desktop, all Windows 10 Pro and different ages but completely up-to-date. I have 330,000 files (many photos) and 1.2TB of data in Dropbox. I have virtually all folders as Local on the desktop, and selected folders as Local on the laptops. If I am oganising files and folders the only way I can manage this and stay sane is to exit from Dropbox, and then restart it when I've finished those tasks. After exiting Dropbox everything is fine. As I have decided I want all my data in the cloud, and selected Dropbox for this, it is very disappointing that this issue continues with no real support from the Dropbox developers it would seem. All my interactions with customer support have been the "try this" stuff, although it has apparently been sent to the techs, but no response. Maybe they're all working on new features! However, as others have commented, it really is a showstopper and I'm now also looking at OneDrive.

Hi all,Thought I would let everyone having this problem (blinking icons) know of a solution that may save your sanity. Here's the letter I shared with Jack of Support.Hello again Jack, I had a thought and have some new information for you. As I said in my last email, there is something about the way File Explorer handles these updates and transactions that gets clumsy with Dropbox methods. So I thought I would try a File Explorer replacement to see how it behaves. I selected "FreeCommander XE" and in particular I downloaded the 32 bit version because you have to pay for the 64 bit. I'll probably shell out the 5 euros to get the 64 bit version since it seems to work very well. Ok... my observation... there is NO BLINKING while Dropbox is syncing in this software. It uses the same icons that you supply (I think) and they properly reflect the status of the files. Local, Online, or Syncing. Whatever. So at least for me, I can use this software product until you get fixed how to play nice with File Explorer. Hope that helps everyone. Just use a different file manager instead of Windows File Explorer until Dropbox gets fixed. Tim (clevercrow1)

> This is a request to allow users to disable the overlays:>> https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Add-option-to-disable-icon-overlays-in-Windows-Explorer/idi-p/412106>> IMPORTANT: there's a box on that page "vote for this idea" - go vote for it and maybe +1 the thread to give the problem more visibility. pepehands, while they're at it, maybe they could even give us a third option for the icon overlays: constantly flickering icon overlays (classic mode)disable icon overlaysproperly functioning icon overlays

Same issue here, but with well over a million files in my Dropbox, I am not particularly keen to reinstall and wait a week or two for a reindex. Will monitor this thread. Am interested in whether a solution comes up.My situation is the same: Windows 7, 64bit. Haven't tried killing dropbox yet, so am not sure whether it is a dropbox issue like the other posters, but will once it finishes syncing if I really have to.Robert

Is now happening to me as well and I am running windows 10. Will be great to follow this post and see the outcome.

all 'FILE EXPLORER' FILE icons flashing whenever dropbox is running

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
6 years ago
Hi there alan78,

Welcome to the Dropbox Community!

Let's see what we can do on this.

At first, could you please let me know what the Dropbox icon shows when you hover over it in your system tray?

Also, could you please confirm for me if you've tried rebooting your computer? Maybe that will do the trick.

Let me know what you find!
- tuneman76
  New member | Level 2
  6 years ago
  A customer of mine is having the same issue. The flashing mostly occurs on her desktop but occasionally in other folders as well. When I pause Dropbox it stops.
  It started after upgrading the account from free to plus and then copying 22 GB of data into the Dropbox folder.
  I restarted the computer twice and the behavior continues.
  When I hover over the Dropbox icon in the system tray it just says it's syncing the data.
  
  My customer is running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.
  - Lusil
    Dropbox Staff
    6 years ago
    Hey tuneman76,
    
    Welcome to the Dropbox Community - I'd be more than happy to help!
    
    Although it sounds like the desktop app is trying to sync the new content throughout their account, to ensure I have a solid understanding of what the behavior is, could you please elaborate a bit on what you mean that there is "flashing"?
    
    For example, are file icons in their Dropbox desktop app flashing? Does this happen to other folders outside of the Dropbox folder? Are there any errors?
    
    Any additional info would be very helpful. Thanks!
- clevercrow1
  Helpful | Level 6
  5 years ago
  Lusil,
  I'm continuing to experiment on this problem as it severely affect my ability to use Dropbox in conjunction with my eBay sales.
  Disclaimer: I am directly comparing OneDrive with Dropbox to be able to gain insight as to what the source of the problem(s) is/are. I am not endorsing any products at this point.
  Ok... so what I am trying is to set up my eBay sales on OneDrive in addition to Dropbox (starting with identical folders/files). This is a modest portion of my Dropbox folders.
  When I view the root eBay/OneDrive folder using the Windows Explorer and select "Details" there is a column labeled "Status" that contains the "cloud status" of the files/folders and the file/folder icons are "plain" (not showing the cloud status). If I change the view to Large Icons the file/folder icons are again "plain" and the "cloud status" is conveyed at the beginning of the name of the file/folder. See screen captures 1 & 2.
  If I instead look at the Dropbox version of these files (remember these are independent duplicates of the OneDrive files), I see different views for both "Details" and "Large Icons". In the Dropbox version, there is no "Status" column and the "cloud status" of the files/folders is shown as part of the files/folders.
  My question, why is this different and is it possible that Microsoft uses this technique to avoid the "blinking icon" problem we are all experiencing?
  An answer from someone who knows "Windows" would be most helpful and enlightening.
MTN_SSC
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago
Same issue here Windows 7 64 Bit. All explorer folder icons to default and back. Could not restart or shut down because Start button kept collapsing on every flash.
- Walter
  Dropbox Staff
  6 years ago
  Thanks for the updates robertcz & MTN_SSC!
  
  I can see that the common denominator here seems to be Windows 7, the 64 bit version,yet, I'd like to also check if there's an antivirus, firewall or even a proxy/VPN setting that could be causing this so -at your earliest convenience- please let us know if there's any of the aforementioned software on the affected computers and if the issue persists when you (temporarily; merely for testing purposes) disable them.
  
  Thanks so much for your patience and cooperation on this!
  - Gillrado
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago
    Is now happening to me as well and I am running windows 10. Will be great to follow this post and see the outcome.

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