Smart Sync - Windows Explorer Search Not Working

[bwhight]

I am testing Smart Sync for our team.  All fine but when files are 'Online Only', Windows Explorer search can't fined them.  I have tried a few PCs in our team and all have the same problem, so I dont think it is an individual PC issue.  We are all running Windows 10.  Any ideas?

[kmarcel]

After SmartSync was introduced, most of our files are online only.

Today i needed to find a folder location for a named like file. 

I started searching a "like filename" in the Browse for files dialog of a browser, in the Dropbox folder. It found nothing. I relaxed the search, it found 2 files, not what i knew existed. I said - ok - the search is now broken in dialogs or DropBox paused.

Trying again with an Explorer window and DropBox active, same result.

I ended up going online, to search for the files. For 15 seconds, DropBox online showed exactly the same files as on my PC, but left an end placeholder. After time, it populated the correct results with all files and i found the needed folder name. 

I personally split the search concept into - file properties, metadata and file content. Ok, the file is online, and has no content. Same with metadata. But Explorer knows file properties - file name, real size, dates and attributes. 

How do i get Windows Search to index at least the names of the files that are online?

Thanks,

[Lusil]

Hi @kmarcel! I’ve moved your post here since it seems to be similar to what other users are reporting. 

As Ross S. mentions in their previous post, we’re currently looking into it. If you’d like, due to account-specific info required, you can contact our Support team via email so as to have a more in-depth look into this. 

Cheers! 

[Lucio · Accepted solution]

The Windows search functionality, that allows finding files set to online-only through the Smart Sync feature, is now available on computers with versions of Windows 8 and above, starting with the beta version 60.3 of the Dropbox desktop application that you can find here.

When this is available in the stable version 60.4 next week, your computer should automatically update and receive the fix.

Thanks to all that reported this and we appreciate your patience on this matter.

Happy syncing!

[JR_Baas]

What about Windows 7?  Is there going to be a fix for that as well?

[mxoh]

@Lucio Are you sure it is fixed? I am on Windows 10 and it still doesn't work for files and only folders.

[SteveWeston]

Oh drats.  You are right mxoh.  Its now finding online-only folders, but not online-only files.  Still not fixed.  Lucio, can you please advise?

[Lucio]

Thanks @mxoh and @SteveWeston for your reports. I'm currently investigating what could be happening since the solution should work for files and folders, and we have already received positive feedback from a lot of users as well. Would it be possible for you to submit a support request with a few screenshots and mentioning this thread so that we can take a closer look?

Also, I'd like to point out that the Windows search functionality, that allows finding files set to online-only through the Smart Sync feature, is only available on computers with versions of Windows 8 and above.

This means that if you're using the search capabilities of a Windows 7 computer, you won't be able to find online only files and folders in the results. This is something outside of our control since this particular version of Windows OS doesn't provide the functionality required to search and find placeholder files.

You can always use Dropbox.com to search and find all of your files. But if it's imperative for you to use your Windows OS capabilities, you can upgrade your OS to a newer version.

[Richard P.44]

Hi Lucio

I'm getting the same issue - since dropbox updated to 60.4.107 - new files dont show up on a search. Using Windows 8.1

Is there a way of rolling back to earlier versions>

Richard

[Richard P.44]

Hi Any news on this - I've reported it to support but not had any fix

[Richard P.44]

Hi

I've managed to reinstall Beta 60.3.89 and the search function works fine - so later updates must have overwritten

If you do this need to delete the Dropboxupdater.exe file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Update or else it updates you back up to the latest version

Let us know when the latest version is corrected

thanks

Richard