You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Search function not working
Hi!
Yesterday my search function randomly stopped working. The files are still there, but I’m no longer able to enter a key word search. Has anyone else had this issue or know how to resolve it? Thanks in advance!!!
I've had the same issue, since earlier today. i hope that this get resolved.
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey Sweet_dee63 and thestranger90, thanks for reaching out!
Can you please clarify where you're having an issue? On the Dropbox mobile app or on the website?
If it's the mobile app, what's your device's OS, Android or iOS?
Keep me posted!- On the website if I type a letter it brings up some documents, but I type a specific keyword or name it brings up nothing. On my iPhone (iOS 14.6), nothing comes up no matter what I type in
- HannahThanks for the update on this, thestranger90.
For our website, can you try using a different browser or an incognito/private browsing window, to see if you have different behavior?
And on your mobile device, can you try uninstalling the Dropbox app, restarting the device and then reinstall the app, to see if that helps?
(If you're on a free Basic account, make sure you have less than 3 devices, before uninstalling).
- HannahThanks for the update! That's great to hear!
If you need anything else, make sure to give us a shout.
Have a great weekend!The search does not work for me in either Safari or Chrome. It didn't work yesterday and continues to not work. I tried using private browsing windows and it didn't work there either. I've tried it on three different macs with no success.
Yep, tried two different browsers but don't have other computers to try it on as am homebased. Tried with the VPN off. Nope, but honestly the VPN has been on since Day One with this. Tried incognito, nope. Cleared everything to beginning of time. Nope. Tried all the suggestions I found. Nope. It literally was working fine as I was working last night searching and then just like that, pop in a search item and notice that it didn't show the file I was searching in the search bar. And then when I logged out and back, it gave and still does give, the messages "There was a problem processing this request." - it still logs me in, this is on both browsers (Safari and Brave) but it won't search. This is 100000% unacceptable. Someone needs to reach out to someone who can actually DO something to help us do our jobs!
Not only did the Search just stop, each time I signed in, on two different browsers, there was a message about a problem signing in but then it signed me in AND this second time on a second browser, there is a lovely pop-up at the bottom about cookies that will not click at all.
Nope nope and nope. It signs me in while simultaneously giving the message "There was a problem completing this request." But the search function might as well not exist. It just sits there. It doesn't pop in the file that I am needing to search and totally does not search at all. This is more than just an inconvenience. This is our firm's Dropbox that I am logging into. In other words, I need this for my job. I search all the time. This is my work, I'm not talking about searching for puppy stories and photos of my last cooking triumph. This is key to my being able to function in my job. Seriously a giant problem. I tried everything you suggested. Nope nope and nope. So now what?
I've tried multiple browsers on multiple computers. I can access all of my files on Dropbox dot com, but I'm unable to search for any terms. When I enter a term and press "Enter," nothing happens. The URL updates to reflect the search term, but nothing changes on the website. Not even "no results." I'm just still staring at my default folder layout. Anyone else experiencing this or have any fix ideas?
- HannahHey buddyboy101, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Are you searching from the 'all files' or 'home' page?
Would you mind sharing a screenshot or better, a screen recording of this, so we can have a better look?
Just make sure you hide any personal info.
Thanks!Having the same problem here. When searching from either "Home" or "All files".
Have tried different browsers, all exhibit the same behavior.
After having the same problem the last few days I contacted Support yesterday and received the following info. Too bad they don't post something on their website help page.......... 8-(
Zoe, Feb 8, 2022, 1:39 AM PST:
Hi
Thank you for reaching out to Dropbox Support. My name is Zoe, and I am a member of the Dropbox team.
I understand you are contacting us about the Search function not working on multiple devices.
Thank you for alerting us to this problem. We appreciate the steps taken so far.
Dropbox engineers are aware of the problem and are working on a solution. We will update you once there is a fix.
Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
Please let me know if you have any other Dropbox questions.well, this is still an issue. working with a client at a higher ed institution with tons of content in their enterprise Dropbox and the Dropbox web search function doesn't work at all. Staring at the file in the folder...it's right there. Search, "nope, that file doesn't exist." Fails in multiple folders across the shared folders they use. Dropbox: FIX THIS PLEASE!!!!
One year after the last post in this thread, which is only the most recent of a number of threads complaining about this issue going back several years, the problem still exists.
A search in Dropbox in my browser for the word RMS, sorted by newest, shows nothing in my dropbox after with RMS in the filename after 2020:
Manually digging through my folders shows many files with RMS in the filename from much later than 2020, including these from June of 2023:Yes, I cleared all caches. Yes, I tried it in private mode, from different browsers and different machines. Yes, all software is fully up to date.
Searching on filenames is a very basic, fundamental user need. Your company has been in existence for over 15 years. How do you still not have this working yet?I am a long time (well over 10 years now) paying dropbox subscriber and the number of years this issue has been documented in these forums (like here https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Delete-edit-and-organize/Search-not-working/td-p/492206) , along with the number of times (such as here https://status.dropbox.com/incidents/0gtlfrjd11m8) where you claim to have fixed it when you didn't, is totally unacceptable.
Why don't you stop devoting development resources to your AI and video editing and other irrelevant bloat and get your basic core file management features working first? I am beginning to look for Dropbox alternatives. If you want me as a customer for another 10 years, you need to provide a basic level of working service, and that includes being able to search my terabytes of files through the web interface when I need to find something quickly.
