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.

[OceanSunrise]

Same thing happens to me every now and then maybe once a week where some files sync and others don't and I figured out by chance if I connect it to ethernet cable and turn off wifi it syncs immediately.   You will not have to do this every time and I cannot figure out the pattern that causes this.    I would totally try this.    I find myself once or maybe twice a week at most, and it take less than a minute to sync.    

[Hannah]

Hey @effinsyv, can you please make sure that you've given Dropbox full disk access?

[effinsyv]

I checked Full Disk access and Accessability (in Privacy). Both were turned on. Just to verify it was working, I switched them both off and removed Dropbox from the lists. I then relaunched DB and swtiched them both back on. I restarted once again. Once it re-launched, it said briefly that the sync'ing was good. About a minute later, it shows the same indexing thing at the same number of files. I need to find an ethernet adapter for my Mac and an ethernet cable, I guess. 

Anything else I should check?

[Walter]

You can try fixing your hard-links and permissions or even un-linking and re-linking your account through the app's preferences at this point @effinsyv 

Let us know of any updates! 

[effinsyv]

The Hard Link permission solution appears to be a Windows fix. I am on Mac OS Sonoma 14.4.1.

If I sign out of DB from the app, it will stop my backups, I think. I went to sign out and sign back in last night and got a message about it. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, particularly with the HD backups I have.

[effinsyv]

So, I am also using DB Backup to back up an external HD along with some of the folders on my Mac HD. I signed out DB (turned off the auto-backup scheduling first).

After I signed out, I went into Sys Settings and turned off both of the privacy settings and removed them from the picklist. Next, restarted and signed back in (turning on both settings in privacy). 45 minutes later, all looked good and no messages. Next, I turned on Backup and relinked the external HD. DB Backup on the web says it's updated, but the indexing is still going. I haven't turned on the HD backup yet as I want to see if the external is the issue or not.

Could the issue be related to the DB Backup app taking forever to index? 

Is there a way to determine this for sure? It's taking a lot of resources on my Mac. This was never an issue until the backups went to a separate App within DB.

[Uli_D]

When that happened to me, it was some files with special characters in the name. When I moved them out of the Dropbox, the error disappeared. I managed to find them, but it would be much easier if the app showed which files when I clicked on the "Updating 11 files" instead of just the "pause sync" options.

[effinsyv]

I have had that issue with oddball files names in the past and it would give a clear sync error. I’ll poke around and see if there are any more. Surprises me the strange filename is still even a thing.

[effinsyv]

Quick update- DB backup successfully backed up and indexed the external drive (all wifi, no hard connection) after signing out and signing back in. I still need to do my HD backup. That will happen later this week.

DB support- it would be a really nice feature to see what it is actually indexing- if it's a DB Backup or DB itself and some sort of log you can access in case a problem file is hanging up the system.

[Walter]

I'm glad to hear it's sorted now and thanks for the updates and your feedback on this too @effinsyv  & @Uli_D - I've passed it on to the team and you can let us know if you have anything else to add.