Spotlight Search Doesn't Link to Files in Dropbox in macOS 13 Ventura

[dsnidey]

After upgrading to macOS Ventura, I was prompted to upgrade to "Dropbox for macOS 12". I proceeded with that, it moved my Dropbox folder to ~/Library/CloudStorage and confirmed all was successful. Now when using Spotlight to search (I often type something like 'drawings folder' to open a folder called Drawings) the results in Spotlight show the Dropbox app icon beside the name of the item I want (rather than a Finder icon for folder or file). Hitting Enter or clicking on the result switches to Finder and does nothing, or sometimes will open the Applications folder and show the Dropbox app. It's not linking me to the actual file in ~/Library/CloudStorage. 

I have done the following and the problem is not solved:

• Restarted
• Ensured all files are available for offline access
• Rebuilt the spotlight index
• Unlinked Dropbox from this Mac, did a complete clean install of dropbox, performed the upgrade to v159.4.5870 and synced just one folder to begin

Nothing works. Any suggestions??

[nikhil84]

@Hannah ,

From the replies on this thread, it is fairly clear that most people are facing this issue.

If it isn't fixable due to the nature of the folder on the Mac, you need to tell your users.

Dropbox support is a chatbot that doesn't understand this issue, or the community - which is where all of us already are. 

[kohji]

I sincerely hope Hannah is not a chatbot. We all wish some meaningful (and technical) reply from somebody inside Dropbox.

[professor1]

I am so dang frustrated. I have had a support ticket open with dropbox for over a month, only to have dropbox support close the ticket with no explanation. I am still having the same issue all of you are. No solution. Dropbox is non-functional in OS Ventura using Spotlight. Not only can I not open files through Spotlight; I also can't drag and drop files into emails or messages, which is something I do a dozen times a day because of my job.

[hotzeplotz]

I'd like a ticket too. I tried it all now. reinstalling dropbox, spotlight reindexing. But I still dont' get a link form the spotlight search to the files in Dropbox. I use this all the time, so it's really a disaster for me.

[Rikymonty]

When you reinstall Dropbox you can’t make the update to the last version, because it will move the files to cloudstorage folder. The problem is on the location of the files. Make a new install without updating to the new version and you will solve it this.

[glideconsultant]

thx rikymonty, this has been suggested several times, however it did not work out for me.

i downloaded (from https://dropbox.en.uptodown.com/mac/versions) an old version (154.4.4801) from september  (when everything still worked fine on my system), installed it and it automatically upgraded to 166.4.2920 without even asking and put the folder into my library (cloudstorage - where btw my google drive lives, which i evaluate as an alternative).

so pls specify the 'old version' (do we ned to get back to some 14x..... version from spring 2022?) and tell my how to avoid this auto-upgrade.

tia

[minpi]

It functioned in my case 4 times. I am not sure if it upgrades automatically because of changed file you download or because of the file, which will be downloaded, when you click on a first one. If you would like to try a file, I succeed with, you can download it from my privat Dropbox. This file is not modified or changed. Its an original file I downloaded from Dropbox website few weeks ago: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sa1qb5wwhdbuq7c/DropboxInstaller-5.dmg?dl=0

[Rikymonty]

You are right some times I’ve had the same result.
But I think it’s because the uninstall wasn’t properly made.
When you uninstall you’ve got to remove all files from the Mac including the folder on cloudsotorge. I suggest using an app like appCleaner.
Then use the Dropbox install app. it will install the older version. Only after the install it will ask you to upgrade, and won’t do it.

If this is done correctly it will work, mine is running perfectly on macOS Ventura 13.2

[TilmanM]

Posting this just to show dropbox that I have the exact same problem. It's very frustrating... I am paying for dropbox as a very small user because it makes things easier and I trust it to store my important files. But if it makes things harder like it does at the moment I am totally willing to change to icloud for good.

[theV0ID]

@TilmanM I switched to iCloud and it works like a charm.

Don't stay on a sinking ship.