Files online but not in Windows explorer

[jessifishman]

I have seen that this was an issue in the past, but the solutions are now out of date, so I am hoping someone can help me with this.

Sometimes files that I know are in Dropbox, and that appear in Dropbox online, do not appear in Windows Explorer. When I download them from Dropbox online to get them back into Explorer, it asks whether I want to replace the file, etc., so I know they are there. They just don't show up when I search. Windows 10. Do I need to change my Sync settings? I also want to make sure both titles and content are searchable. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. 

[Hannah]

Hey @jessifishman. thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you confirm if the issue is only with searching for the files?

Otherwise, if you try to locate them manually, are you able to see them in your Dropbox folder?

For the files that are online, but not in the Dropbox folder at all, can you check if they contain any incompatible characters?

Let me know what you find.

[jessifishman]

Hi @Hannah 

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what you mean by "locate them manually." Do you mean scroll through Windows Explorer to try to find the file? That's not feasible, as we have thousands of files, which is why we need the search function to work. And no, there are no incompatible characters. Thanks!

[Jay]

Hi @jessifishman, could you clarify what you mean by 'search' for the files? Are you searching in Explorer itself?

How exactly do you download the files from Dropbox? If the files are syncing via the app, you shouldn't get any option to replace the file, since it does so automatically.

[jessifishman]

Hi @Jay ,

Yes, I search for file names in File Explorer itself. Ideally I'd be able to search for content, as well, not just file names, but that's a separate issue. (Though feel free to help if you can there!)

When I search, and the file does not appear in Explorer, I go to Dropbox online, search for the file, then click the three dots next to the file I want, and click Download. I save it to my desktop, and then drag it over to where it should go in my Dropbox files in File Explorer, which is when it asks if I want to replace the file.

Hope this info helps. Thanks for your help.

[Jay]

If you click the Dropbox icon in the system tray, have you tried searching for the file from there by clicking the magnifying glass icon?

[jessifishman]

I can try that next time it happens, but since I'm using File Explorer for everything else Dropbox-related, I would hope that the searches would work there. 

[jessifishman]

Additionally, @Jay and @Hannah, there are two of us using the same Dropbox family account, and our files do not sync with each other either. I have a document that is not showing up in any of my boss's searches.

[Hannah]

Thanks for the updates here!

Hmm, what is the status of your Dropbox application? You can see that by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your system tray.

And do you mean that you and your boss are both accessing the same Dropbox account from different computers?

Does this document appear when your boss accesses the account online?

[jessifishman]

Hi @Hannah 

We are accessing the same Dropbox family room account from different computers, yes. On his computer he can search File Explorer and see everything he needs to; his searches also work for content within PDFs, whereas my searches only work for titles. This is another problem we need to address. But my searches in File Explorer do not always show the file I need (the original reason for this thread!)

Currently the status of my Dropbox is syncing/downloading. Thank you!