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Forum Discussion
Dropbox folder in File Explorer in Windows 11 is painfully slow
I recently 'upgraded' to Windows 11 and the new File Explorer is now painfully slow when navigating the Dropbox folder. Simply navigating the hierarchy takes seconds and the Windows busy ring appears twice for each click.
I have tried:
- reinstalling Dropbox (currently 139.3.4798)
- enabling Smart Sync (this will likely save me disk space but seems not to affect performance)
- uninstalling any other software that interacts with the Windows context menu (WinZip etc)
- restoring the Windows 10 File Explorer (which changed the GUI) but not the speed
- running Windows File explorer full screen (F11) a common recommendation that does not improve performance
I am running Win 11 Pro on a decent enough 8th gen Core i7 with 16GB RAM that coped just fine under Windows 10, I have 346443 files on my DB. the issue is limited to the Dropbox folder which is why I'm here and not on the MS forum.
Any help gratefully received!
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi jaymeetee, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
It looks like you’re running the beta version of the Dropbox desktop application.
To install our latest stable version, visit this page and switch ‘Early releases’ to Off.
Afterwards, re-download the app from here.
Keep me updated with any progress!Jay, thanks for getting back to me. Yes I remember switching to the 'early releases' nearly ten years ago when I was having trouble syncing more than 100k files (back in the days when this was a limitation). I have flicked the switch, installed the new (old) stable version (138.4.2392) and Dropbox is re-indexing everything. Once that's complete I shall reboot and let you know if things are better. Thanks again for your help, James
- Dropbox have been aware of this issue since Windows 11 launched in October 2021. I've dealt with them regarding this issue via our company support and they still haven't found a solution. I have tried on 3 separate desktop computers, all very high spec and on all three machines Dropbox is completely unusable. My Surface laptop is the only machine that seems to work correctly with Dropbox. Its not just the Dropbox folder, it's the entire Windows Explorer. It literally takes nearly a minute to display the files. I am now forced to sync Dropbox once a week. Dropbox please get this sorted it's a joke.
Running latest version of Dropbox and my system is fully updated with the latest Windows updates.
I'm actually moving back to MacOS as I can't put up with this any longer.
. Removing iCloud App worked for me
I have the same issue but I have not ICloud installed on my computer (not in my service for example).
I have found some threads that explain how to remove the dropbox icon displayed in the explorer and then I have better performances, but the icon come back after some days (even with permissions unset in the registry !).
I'm about to change to another provider to be able to work on my directories, but I would prefer to solve this issue. So if someone has any clue, I'm interessting !
My bandwith is high, so no network issues. And yes, just working in a "non dropbox" directory is fine.
Using commands in CMD works well also, it's really Windows Explorer that is not fine.
- Walter
Hey Bruno MC, sorry to hear about this.
Could you clarify the OS version of your computer and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app installed there as well?
Also, approximately how many files are you syncing locally to your computer?
Do you happen to be running any other 3rd party apps that could be causing issues, like antivirus programs, backup or cloud services etc.?
Hi,
after the migration to a new pc, and reinstaling dropbox desktop app and downloading the files the explorer opens the files ok. After restarting the PC, the explorer opens the files very slow and it seems he is downloading the files one more time online.After deinstallion the desktop app the file explorer opens regularly , so the files are on the harddisk.
Any ideas?
