Cannot search inside specific folders using Finder on Mac

[mshafer]

After upgrading Dropbox on Mac to the latest version (v164.4.4300), I am no longer able to use Finder to search within specific Dropbox folders for content inside the files (pdfs, text documents, etc). Previously, I could use the normal search function in a Finder window to do keyword searched across the content of all files within a given folder. But now, whenever I limit the search to a single folder, nothing shows up at all in a search.

Note the following:

— All files and folders in question are fully synced and available offline, not stored only online

— Strangely, files containing the keyword DO show up when I don't limit the search to a specific folder; but when do limit the search to the folder that contains those files, they no longer appear in the finder search results.

Please let me know what other information might be useful to resolve this. This bug makes Dropbox unusable for some of the key purposes I rely on it for, and if I'm not able to resolve it quickly I'll have to transition entirely to a different service (eg iCloud). Thank you!

[Walter]

Hey @mshafer, sorry to her you're having issues with this.

I just wanted to mention that there's a more recent version of the desktop app. Can you download and install it from this page and let me know if the issue persists?

If it does, can you also have a look at this discussion and let me know if any of the information there helps?

Thanks so much!

[mshafer · Accepted solution]

Pleased to report that this fixed the issue (the suggestion to re-index Spotlight did the trick). Thanks so much!

[Walter]

Glad to hear this helped @mshafer - thanks for keeping me in the loop too.

See you around the Community and have a lovely week ahead!

[YanikBuzz]

This isn't working for me.
I've done the steps suggest to rebuild the Spotlight index, but I still get no results when trying to search within a folder in DropBox. Instead I have to search my computer and sift through sift through thousands of results instead of a handful.
I may as well have my files in an old shoebox in the garage.
What a brutal upgrade.
I just want to revert to the way it was.

[Brian Cashman]

This occurs to me in Sonoma 14.1.

[Walter]

Hey @Brian Cashman  - sorry to hear about this.

Could you clarify the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app installed on the affected device?

Have you tried re-indexing Spotlight since you first noticed this by the way?