Implementing Boolean Operators in Searches.

[Petercard]

Is there any way to use Boolean operators when using the search function in DropBox ?

When I used the search I usually get too many hits, so a simple way of narrowing down the results would be very beneficial.

[Jay]

This idea has been closed as it has reached the end of the Share an Idea process.

Thank you for your suggestion, and if you have another idea to share, please do! 

You can find out more about this feature here and get support or provide feedback in Ask the Community.

[Petercard]

Hi all,

Looks like this is gaining momentum - spread the word.

Suggestion: DropBox should consider implementing something like the functionality that's in the Windows Built in Search:-

System.FileName:~<"notes" Files whose names begin with "notes." The ~< means "begins with."
System.FileName:="quarterly report" Files named "quarterly report." The = means "matches exactly."
System.FileName:~="pro" Files whose names contain the word "pro" or the characters pro as part of another
word ﴾such as "process" or "procedure"﴿. The ~= means "contains."
System.Kind:<>picture Files that aren't pictures. The <> means "is not."
System.DateModified:05/25/2010 Files that were modified on that date. You can also type
"System.DateModified:2010" to find files changed at any time during that year.
System.Author:~!"herb" Files whose authors don't have "herb" in their name. The ~! means "doesn't
contain."
System.Keywords:"sunset" Files that are tagged with the word sunset.
System.Size:<1mb Files that are less than 1 MB in size.
System.Size:>1mb Files that are more than 1 MB in size.
Note
You can use a question mark ﴾?﴿ as a wildcard for a single character and an asterisk ﴾*﴿ as a wildcard for any number of characters.
You can also use the operators AND, OR, and NOT to combine search keywords. ﴾Note how the use of parentheses can change the effect of a search term.﴿
Example search term Use this to find
System.Author:Charlie AND Herb Files that are authored by Charlie as well as any files that include Herb in the file
name or in any file property.
System.Author:Charlie AND System.DateModified:>2009 Find only files that are authored by Charlie after 2009.
System.Author:﴾Charl* AND Herb﴿ Files that have either Charles and Herb or Charlie and Herb listed as authors.
System.Author:"Charlie Herb" Files that are authored by someone with exactly this name.

[LeslieL]

Okay its not 2023 ----- has there been ANY progress from Dropbox to fix/correct/improve the search features? We are still as of this writing unable to perform searches for specific phrases without getting every single word contained within the phrase back as a result.  Totally useless and a huge problem for us. 

[Petercard]

To DropBox Management

On the subject of better search features for DropBox , this suggestion has been around since Jan 2019.  

Something needs to be done, for example, searching DropBox on iOS devices needs a way to refine the search otherwise the results are overwhelming.

What's the point of saving terrabytes of informatio if you can't reliably find what you are looking for.

Please provide an update to when this feature might appear.

[thibautbenkei]

Hey Dropbox engineers, I fixed the issue, with the help of ChatGpt, please implement!

[HELP_ME_please]

To Dropbox, Please help us.  Dropbox is becoming less functional for core functions.  All of the new things are bling. Please fix the core functions like searching.

[andystenz]

How is this not basic search functionality? This is so necessary, especially for larger business accounts. 

Please get at least basic boolean operators functional, Dropbox. Maybe add a 2nd search if needed ("filter by results with these words" sorta thing). 

I'm looking for a single PDF file and I'm getting thousands of results that aren't anywhere related. It's ridiculous. 

[Robert C.93]

Improved search function essential to a small business like mine. Please reconsider and offer this feature as a beta in 2023.  The interfacing mentioned by Petercard (above in his December comment) would be acceptable to me.

With my 5-member team using 27 TB, it is inconvenient and expensive to maintain a separate on-site mirror which i can search using the local operating system.

Please raise the Priority Level to "very high" with an ASAP beta release date for the Dropbox development engineers to make any improvement in searching functions,

And also please set the Priority Level to "very high" for a beta release of an intuitive Boolean-capable search function before end of 2023.

[HELP_ME_please]

I am leaving dropbox after > 10 years because of this.  Thank you everyone for  trying.

Good Bye

[wilson_energy]

I would leave too if I could convince my boss but it is so much work moving to another fileserver. Good news for Dropbox who doesn't care. Just amazing that they used to have this capability and ditched it.

[markbraggins]

I have tried tweeting Dropbox Support asking about this issue https://twitter.com/markbraggins/status/1651147128159305729