Dropbox not searchable in MacOS Ventura 13.1

[ptetta]

Since the recent Dropbox update, I can no longer search for files in Dropbox on my Mac.  I have been using Dropbox for over 10 years and have never had this problem before.  It's making life extremely difficult and making me think about moving entirely to Google Drive, although I don't really like Google that much.  But at least it's free, whereas I am now paying Dropbox for a less functional service than I had previously.

Does anyone know how to get this function back?

[vmkirin]

In my case, my system does not see DropBox files at all. Finder does not see DropBox. I have to open the Dropbox folder directly from the top bar icon, and when I tried to save a quick link in the sidebar of Finder, the files inside were not viewable from that quick link.

[bri_guy]

My issue is with searching the Dropbox folder in Finder, as previously stated - I'm sure this is connected to Spotlight somehow, but I'm not trying to search directly via the Spotlight (CMD-Spacebar) interface.

I have definitely opened the Dropbox folder in Finder many times since the update so I don't think that's the issue.

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @vmkirin and @bri_guy, I actually moved our thread to this one, since it's about the same issue.

You might want to take a look at the solution on this thread, to see if that works for you as well.

[bri_guy]

This solution worked for me, thanks.

[reno08]

Hi, 

I'm on macOS Ventura 13.0 and Dropbox v160.3.4650 (apparently a beta ? Is Ventura / Apple Silicon supported in mainline Dropbox these days ?)

In Spotlight (cmd+space) :

Searching for a file in the Dropbox folder *by name* works, but not *by content* (PDF files that should be indexed without a problem)

In Finder search : neither by name nor by content works in the Dropbox folder.

In the Dropbox app search : by name works, by content works for *some* (possibly older ?) files but not all.

Elsewhere on the same volume is fine.
I have tried adding then removing the Dropbox folder to the Spotlight privacy exceptions list, that didn't help.

Any clues ?

Thanks

[cinnil]

I'm not with dropbox, but from what I've understood after talking to support for awhile. The update of the location was forced down by the new MacOS, so they had to update the location to be compliant. Unfortunately, it breaks searching in dropbox and there doesn't seem to be a clear fix yet.

Personally, I updated to MacOs 13.1 lately and it has fixed the spotlight previewing items held in dropbox to some extent.

However, the following are still issues:

1. still can not open files to their location in finder like before. 

2. a search in finder will not display dropbox items or their contents even though they will show up in a spotlight search

[stefanedginton]

Hi,

I have used Dropbox on Mac for many years.

I tag many of my files in Finder for easy search and can search within specific folders for files that contain the tag.

However, since the latest Dropbox update where it moved all the Files to the "Locations" sidebar in Finder, this search functionality within the Dropbox folders no longer works. If I search "This Mac" I can find the tagged folders but if I want to search a specific folder that is in Dropbox it won't work.

Would appreciate any tips or tricks to resolve this,  thanks!

[cseow]

Hi David:

Thanks for your post. The solution "kind of" works.

It works in that the folder is now searchable using Finder's search window (and Spotlight too),

BUT

I cannot seem to limit the search to ONLY DropBox (the "Search: This Mac" is selected and "DropBox" cannot be selected in the search bar in the Finder Window when attempting to do a multi-criteria search.) Hence it does not seem possible to filter the search by locations within DropBox - which is quite critical for me.

The only way I can search *only* within DropBox is to use the DropBox app (in the menubar), but that method does not allow for a multi-criteria search like one can do from within the Finder window.

Have you encountered this issue, or did the process you outline fix that problem for you completely (i.e. you did not encounter the problem that I did.)

[cseow]

I tried the re-indexing process described by @davidarden and (in my case) it DID allow me to search by tags...
BUT
I was however unable to limit my search to any location within DropBox.

The issue for me seems to be more that Finder cannot search within DropBox ONLY, and therefore I cannot narrow my criteria by location of the file. The other search filter criteria such as tags, file types, (I have not tried them all) seem to work - at least for those I tried.

Hope this helps.