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?

[HappyTales]

@Kirepan not for me, no. I just see the Photoshop icon.

[sdwla032a]

Oh, it’s definitely a Dropbox issue. Their support and time of resolve to fix this issue has been abysmal for us paying customers.

What they need to do is fix and dump the caching of the generic icons. If a user opens a folder before making it online, which is often, the generic thumbs will cache and then appear no matter if it’s made online. The cached generic thumbs will not flush.

HOWEVER, if a user makes a folder online BEFORE opening that folder, the previews of the images now appear since those are being captured and cached as the true previews of the thumbs instead.

[Ed M.27]

Same issue here, it's rendering Dropbox pointless for me. Shame my annual subscription just renewed too as I can't stick with another year of this.

GDrive seems to work properly for me, I can search and see previews of files. Very close to binning off Dropbox after years and years of use for a Google One account.

[wallerlaurenp]

I am having the same problem as the rest (many others, it seems). Can only see jpeg icons in finder using Ventura, dropbox version 182.4.6427.

This bug makes dropbox completely useless to me.

[No_Icons_No_Dragon]

Is this no icon preview issue universal? If so, I don’t see how any creative professional, or anyone who works with images would choose to work with Dropbox. Lacking previews wouid be a fatal flaw. That said, I’ve not heard of a mass exodus, so why is this? Is it just the scores of us on this thread? Do you know of other DB users who can see previews? I’m looking for some hope that the issue is isolated and can somehow be resolved. Is DB even listening? Do they monitor the community?

[massimilianogrieco]

hello @BenDBX and @Walter.

It's been since May that we don't hear back on this thread.
I'm tagging you directly because if you scroll trough this thread you'll notice how we feel literally abandoned from Dropbox Support.

Considering that we are paying for this service, this absolutely doesn't make any sense to me.

Please NOTE that this is not a small issue, as we are basically working on the files in BLIND, without previewing files.

I hope you'll reply with some updates asap.

[ngchristina]

Adding the the list of DISCONTENT users. I've been following this thread for a while now. My workaround in the past has been using Adobe Bridge, but now corporate IT is not allowing us to use this program. PLEASE FIX THIS DROPBOX.

[lemontea]

This is ridiculous. I have the latest dropbox update and having no thumbnail previews completely destroys the workflow. Looking for another file hosting service. BYE DROPBOX.

[jimmy92233]

Finally found a thread addressing this issue and a bit shocked that this is still unresolved.

As a professional creative, I might as well have my hands tied behind my back. Completely incapable of doing any work without being able to see a thumbnail picture of online-only files. The rest of my team running latest OS is also experiencing this and resorted to using the dropbox website to preview files, then hop over to the folder location to edit.

This is insane and it's crippled our productivity. Will be looking into other services for sure. 

[No_Icons_No_Dragon]

For those who are leaving Dropbox to gain thumbnail previews, please let us know of the cloud storage alternatives you ‘tested and found will do the job. Thanks!