You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

weiskott's avatar
weiskott
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

Sync icons missing in the Dropbox folder in Finder

I recently had a new work desktop (Mac) deployed. While all my downloaded Dropbox files were successfully transferred, there are now no sync icons next to Dropbox files in Finder. I have never had this issue before. The files are showing up as synced in the taskbar and online and across devices, but there are no green check icons in Finder.

 

Published solutions to this problem (uninstall / reinstall Dropbox; restart computer; force-quit Finder; check that OneDrive or other overlay programs are not running) have not worked for me. Help?? Programs running are Google Chrome and Microsoft Word. MacOS Monterey 12.3.1 / Dropbox v147.4.4800. I have the Basic plan.

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    3 years ago

    Hi weiskott, can you also try the following?

     

    Click on the Apple logo located at the top-left of the screen.
    Click on System Preferences.
    Click on Extensions.
    Click on Finder Extensions.
    Only leave Dropbox Finder Integration ticked.
    Once this is completed suggest to close the window.
    Click one more time on the Apple logo at the top-left of the screen.
    Click on Force Quit.
    Look for Finder on the list.
    Click on Finder then Relaunch.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey weiskott, thanks for joining our Community.

     

    And thanks for all the info provided, it's super helpful.

     

    Can you check if you're missing other sync icons, apart from the green check one? For example, when a file is syncing, does it have an icon on it?

     

    And what is the sync status of the application? You can see that, if you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.

     

    Keep me posted.

    • weiskott's avatar
      weiskott
      Helpful | Level 6

      Thanks, Hannah. There are no icons at all in Finder, including when syncing. The syncing icon appears on the menu taskbar briefly before syncing completes, but there's no green check there. (I am not concerned about the taskbar, as I am given to understand that Dropbox redesigned this part of the application -- there is no check on the Dropbox taskbar icon on my laptop at home, either).

       

      The application is working as expected on my work desktop but isn't giving me the feedback I have grown accustomed to in terms of which files have already synced. It's a small thing, but in certain scenarios this would be useful information for me in order to avoid spawning conflicted versions of files in progress. I have read that some people with this problem turned out to have been checking the wrong folder, not the one that Dropbox is syncing, but I've triple-checked that as well.

      • Megan's avatar
        Megan
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hi weiskott, sorry to jump in here! 

         

        Can you let me know your app's syncing status at the moment? 

         

        Also, feel free to send me a screenshot as to how the files and folders look inside your Dropbox folder, so I can have visual too.

         

        Thanks! 

  • Bluebiycle's avatar
    Bluebiycle
    Helpful | Level 6

    Hi This solution has fixed it for me so far. Missing Icons is a big source of aggravation for us, as it's literally like driving a car in the dark with no headlights, as you can't see what is synced. If it is the case that other 3rd parties' extensions are universally causing a clash, leading to this problem could this be disseminated by Dropbox more widely? We have spent months fiddling around restarting Macs and the Apps, toggling preferences, to get this to work.

  • scotty321's avatar
    scotty321
    Helpful | Level 5

    Hi there,

     

    I am using Dropbox v183.4.7058 on macOS Ventura 13.5.2.

     

    However, I am no longer seeing the Dropbox file icons in the Finder. In the past, Dropbox used to show me little icons next to each one of my files & folders to let me know if the files were synced or not.

     

    However, Dropbox no longer shows me any of the file icons in the Finder.

     

    You can see the icons that I'm referring to by reading the first half of this article: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/macos-sync-icons

     

    None of these icons show up in the Finder anymore.

     

    Does anybody know how to fix this issue?

     

    Thanks,
    Scott

    • Hannah's avatar
      Hannah
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Thanks for bringing this to our attention, scotty321.

       

      Is the Dropbox app running and working correctly otherwise? Syncing files, etc?

       

      What's the sync status when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

      • scotty321's avatar
        scotty321
        Helpful | Level 5

        Thanks, Hannah!

         

        Yes, everything else seems to be working properly.

         

        When I hover over the Dropbox menu icon, the screenshot below is what I see. It says "Dropbox 183.4.7058. Up to date."

         

        Is it true that Dropbox is still supposed to be showing the File & Folder Icons in the Finder?

         

        Thanks,

        Scott