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

daninSTL's avatar
daninSTL
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

File search issues with beta for Mac

I just installed the beta version a few days ago. I use Alfred as a superior alternative to Spotlight to search files etc. since installing the beta Alfred can’t find files in my Dropbox folder. I ha...
Desktop
File access
Mac
  • Emmet's avatar
    Emmet
    2 years ago

    Thank you for reaching out about this issue and sorry about the problems you experienced. The issue you’re experiencing where files returned in a Spotlight search don’t open when clicked is a known issue and should have been fixed by updating your Mac to macOS 13.3. For more information on using Dropbox on macOS, visit this article.

Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
3 years ago

Hi daninSTL, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

Are your files available offline in your Dropbox folder?

 

What icon do you have next to the files themselves?

 

This will help me to assist further!

  • Malinalda's avatar
    Malinalda
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    I have the same problem, I couldn't find any thing with Alfred or Spotlight after I agree to install the new beta Dropbox version and agree to move all my files to "new place".

    • Nancy's avatar
      Nancy
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      3 years ago

      Welcome aboard the forum, Malinalda!

       

      Can you clarify what you mean when saying that you moved your files to the new place? 

       

      Also, like Jay asked above, can you let me know what type of syncing icons do you see next to your Dropbox files now? 

       

      Cheers.

      • drmacnut's avatar
        drmacnut
        Explorer | Level 4
        3 years ago

        Aloha Nancy. I know I am coming in a month after your reply to @Malinalda about Spotlight apparently not working in the new Dropbox beta. I also have this issue. Here is some info:

         

        1. I installed the Dropbox beta on Oct 18, 2022 on one of my iMac M1s which is now running Ventura 13.0 RC2 (22A380)

        2. All files and folders are set to be local on the Mac, not "cloud only"; icons in the name column are all green checkmarks in small circles

        3. Dropbox is v160.3.4650

        4. Spotlight does not work at all on the Dropbox folder or any subfolder therein

        5. I had macOS re-index the folder by adding the Dropbox folder to the Spotlight Privacy settings at the following location: System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Spotlight Privacy. I then let the mds_stores, mds, and fileproviderd processes calm down to background levels (as ascertained using Activity Monitor), at which point I removed Dropbox from Spotlight Privacy. The same three processes ran at relatively high cpu usage for several minutes (my Dropbox folder is about 200GB in size) before settling down again.

        6. At that point, I tried Spotlight again, but it still doesn't find anything in the Dropbox folder.

         

        Please let me know if I can provide any other information that may help solve this problem.

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!