Won't stop indexing on Mac

[msheppard]

I installed the mac dropbox update and the application began indexing my files. It has now been stuck for the last few days. I can only access some files. Many are now only available through dropbox.com and not in my app. If I add files to dropbox.com they are added to the indexing queue of the desktop app, but no progress is made regarding indexing. I've tried signing out, quitting, uninstalling, and reinstalling. I've seen similar threads, but no solutions have worked for me. Any help is much appreciated.

[Megan]

Hey @jpglutting, our latest version is this one. 

Would you mind performing a quick re-install, please? 

Also, it sounds like your app has migrated to File Provider, so you might also need to take a look at this Help Center article, to make sure you've tried the steps there. 

Do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?

[jpglutting]

Thanks Megan,

I don't seem to have the latest version. I downloaded Dropbox from the website yesterday, and I have installed it four times now (twice over the existing install, twice after deleting the existing install). It still says version 205.4.5765, while your link says the latest version is 206.4.6506. Update - I downloaded from that link, deleted and reinstalled, and it is updated to 206. Not sure why the standard install/update package is out of date. 

I have my VPN turned off. Dropbox.app is allowed access through the firewall. I even turned the firewall off for a while, no change. I also allowed Dropbox Accessibility rights. Still no change. 

Is there a way to download all my content from the Dropbox web interface? That might just be easier to do and move to another service.  

[jpglutting]

If it helps at all, I am not getting status icons in my Dropbox folder (updating, green-check-mark, etc.).

Thanks

[Hannah]

Hey @jpglutting, can you make sure that Dropbox has full disk access? It might help in this case as well.

[jpglutting]

Thanks Hannah,

Ok, I have given Dropbox a ridiculous level of access and control on my computer. No syncing so far, from what I can tell.

It is interesting that it is keeping an up-to-date list of all the files it wants to index, because if I move some, it changes the total (I removed some old directories, and the total increased to 17,083, not sure why that is). But it doesn't seem to be able to do any indexing. 

[Hannah]

Thanks for this info, @jpglutting, it's really interesting indeed.

Does refreshing Finder, by force quitting and re-launching it, help at all?

[jpglutting]

Thanks Hannah,

I didn't try that, but I did restart the OS, so that should have done the trick. I just force-quit. I do see the little cloud icon on each directory (it might have been there already), but it looks grey. I marked "Make available offline", but that doesn't seem to have an effect. The cloud icon doesn't have a down-arrow. A directory in OneDrive does have a cloud with a down-arrow, indicating, I think, that it could be downloaded.

In the CloudStorage directory, Dropbox has a clock icon with very little progress. Perhaps an indicator of indexing?

[Jay]

Hi @jpglutting, that sounds like this icon, showing that the syncing is in progress in the Dropbox folder, which could also indicate indexing of files.

[jpglutting]

Thank Meghan,

Yes, apparently the directory is syncing and all the contents are syncing. No sync errors. No sync. 

[Megan]

Hey @jpglutting, just to make sure we're on the same page: is the app up-to-date now?