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??

[dominic k.2]

Tried this and it made no difference 😞

[remora]

Hi all,

We are suffering some of colateral effects to upgrade the new mac experience of Dropbox. 😕

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

Searching through Finder won’t find all content in your Dropbox folder.

• Searching through Finder will only find online-only files or folders that have been previously accessed on your device running Dropbox for macOS.
  • Only file names will display in these search results, not the file contents.
  • This will also affect features that depend on searching through Finder. For example, Smart Folders.
  • Search using Spotlight isn’t affected.

Not being able to search inside folders is also very annoying.
And Search using Spotlight IS affected.

Hope Dropbox fix this soon!

[jotemel]

Hi, I have a problem with Dropbox app on MAC - M1 - after typing desired file in Spotlight it shows me the desired file name but with Finder icon next to it, instead of icon for pdf or doc file, when I click on file to open it, nothing happens. To view the file I need to go to "Search in Finder" then I can access them. I cant go directly from Spotlight and open a file. Tried to run Mac in safe mode and there is no problem with spotlight then, uninistaled the dropbox and all was fine.  My OS is Ventura 13.2

[Megan]

Hi @jotemel, how are you today?

I merged your post under this thread, since others had expressed the same inquiry, and I want to keep everything at the same place.

Could you clarify the Dropbox version that you have installed on your device? 

Feel free to have a look at what others have suggested, and all the troubleshooting steps mentioned, and let me know how it goes. 

Thank you!

[jotemel]

My Dropbox version is v167.4.4719

[jotemel]

Tried this and it didnt help my case at all

Same thing after reinstalling Dropbox app

[minpi]

 I do have exactly the same version on Ventura 13.2, BUT (!!!!) I didn't update as Dropbox prompted me to do so. And I am still a happy user..Do not update. It will break your system.

 

[dragononamac]

How do we downgrade and prevent auto upgrade?

[minpi]

I did explain it here on this thread many times. Anyway I am not sure if Dropbox team didn't change something since then. My version is the same as by other users, but Dropbox prompts me to update after I do a clean install (unlink, deinstall, download, install, sync) So I DO NOT follow it..and everything works fine as usual.

 

 

    

[JoePL]

Approach @dsnidey's suggested fix with caution!! While I appreciated the suggestion, @dsnidey's proposed fix not only burned many hours of my time but made my Dropbox situation much worse, at least with build v166.4.2920, resulting in the following additional issues (on top of the Spotlight Search problem):

• Many "Conflicted" copies of empty folders and files
• Getting stuck in sync that never resolved
• Subfolders of Selective Sync folders not syncing
• "Cannot communicate with helper" error messages

I'd recommend NOT following this procedure proposed by @dsnidey, although it's partially helpful. After speaking with Dropbox customer service, they suggested instead simply installing the latest stable version.

I followed this slightly revised sequence of these steps, which fixed everything for me:

1. Click on your Dropbox MacOS app menu bar (not Dock) icon-->click on your profile icon-->go to Preferences.
2. Under Sync, go to "Select folders" then uncheck all folders synced to your Mac. Doing this will remove them from your Mac and leave them online ONLY. You'll need to wait a while (potentially hours) for this removal to finish. 
3. Go to your former /Users/Username/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox folder to make sure all files have been removed
4. Go to Dropbox MacOS app Preferences-->Account-->Sign out of account. This unlinks your Mac from your Dropbox account. You should see the Dropbox getting started screen.
5. Quit Dropbox and move the app to Trash. 
   1. I used a 3rd party AppCleaner removal tool to clear out all the Dropbox files from my root and user /Library folders, but you can also do this manually.
      1. Delete Dropbox folder & files from the /Users/Username/Library/ folder
      2. Delete Dropbox folder & files from the /Library/ folder 
6. Restart your Mac. 
7. Reinstall Dropbox by going to the Latest Stable Builds page, finding the latest version released by @clientreleases and directly downloading the appropriate offline Installer for your MacOS.
8. After you reinstall and log in with your account, you can go back to and recheck your folders under Sync that you want to have both offline & online. The sync process could take a very long time depending on the size of your files and internet speed. 

I struggled with Spotlight issues after updating to the latest Dropbox MacOS release, but following these steps made Spotlight search work again for me, and all files synced as they should, including all subfolders. Although it took many hours for all my files to resync, everything was 100% back up and running. I hope this works for you too. Good luck!

IMPORTANT- if you get a prompt saying Dropbox is going to migrate your files to a new folder, the Dropbox advisor I spoke with advised NOT to do this. Otherwise, you may be back to square one.