How to view previews of online-only files on desktop (like how you can in the mobile app)? - macOS

[meganh32]

I'm trying to figure out how to see previews, specifically of .jpeg online files, on my mac desktop. I use Dropbox almost exclusively for photo management and it's frustrating not even being able to see a preview so I can figure out which files I need to download locally (I just moved from an old computer that had enough storage to download everything offline to a new computer with much less storage so almost everything is online). I can do this on my android app. All of the online-only files on the mobile app are fully previewable and I can scroll through everything before deciding what to download. Is this possible on the desktop?

[BenDBX]

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for reporting this issue. I've looked into it and confirmed that our engineers are aware of this problem and are looking into it. I will post here when we have an update.

Regards,

Ben

[massimilianogrieco]

Hi Ben.

Thank you for your reply.
I'm aware that you said that you'll post when you will have an update, but this issue has been reported on April 27 2023 by email, and engineering team was already aware of the issue.

I don't want to sound like pressing but we're almost hitting a month time, and believe working with design has become almost impossible without previewing files.

Is this issue being handled as high priority? 
Do we have any ETA on when the patch will be released?

Thank you for your understanding.
Best,
Massimiliano

[Muntz]

Everyone at our office with the latest OS-updates have this problem as well.. So annoying! We would really like a patch for this issue!

[CharlotteR]

It's fixed with the new Dropbox update! 🎉

[massimilianogrieco]

Hey Charlotte,

would you mind sharing the version number and where did you get the update?

Thank you!
Bast,
Max

[CharlotteR]

I received an email from Dropbox. I had to turn on a setting in the admin (we have dropbox teams) so that when Dropbox was quit and then restarted, a message came up to update the app.

The app update actually moves the Dropbox files to a new location on your computer.

Happy to report the update has fixed the issue!

[kimskey]

Up until today, I have been able to see thumbnails for jpg/png files that are online-only.  Now it is just a generic icon.

I understand what online-only entails but for years I have been using the thumbnails to select the file i need to download or re-download.

I can't just download all the photos from the photoshoot just to select one file.  

Is there a way to re-enable the thumbnails?  

[Muntz]

@CharlotteR 

What Admin setting are you referring to? 

[massimilianogrieco]

Hey @CharlotteR 

I'm glad that you received an update to solve the issue.

It goes over my understanding limit figure out why Dropbox support doesn't reply to this thread if they have the solution.

Could you be so kind to share the version number that you have installed?
Thank you.

Massimiliano

[CharlotteR]

Sure, here's the version number!