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

Dropbox is not searchable in Mac OS Monterey 12.0.1

Dropbox files/folders are not searchable in spotlight on new MacBook Pro with M1 chip - Monterey OS 12.0.1. Have re-indexed spotlight. Have uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox and rebooted. Have made...
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  • davidarden's avatar
    davidarden
    3 years ago

    I have found a solution, everyone! I hope everyone struggling with this will find this post. The problem isn't with dropbox, it's with Mac Spotlight. Which surprised me, as I always thought the finder search was separate from Spotlight, but apparently, on the back end, both are one-in-the-same. I've heard many times that re-indexing spotlight didn't work, but it does! You just have to do it a different way for everything to ACTUALLY 100% reindex.

     

    Tutorial is here on apple's forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253479408

    Just giving credit where credit is due.

     

    In case that goes away, instructions are also listed below.

     

    • Open System Preferences and go to Spotlight's Privacy tab.
    • Add the entire hard disk INTO the Privacy list.
    • Maybe wait 30s.
    • Remove the hard disk FROM the Privacy list.

    Spotlight will re-index. After finish re-indexing, the search in folder works for me.

     

    (To see if Spotlight is indexing, use Command+Space to invoke Spotlight, and type in something. Wait a second. You should see a progress bar to show indexing progress)

     

    Of note, I am on Mac OS Monterey 12.6 (21G115). My dropbox version is 158.4.4564. These are both the lastest, as of now, 10.3.2022.

     

    Hopefully this helps! Changed my life - I can work again!

     

     

     

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

I'm having the same issue - Dropbox is not searchable by either Mac Spotlight or the search field in the Finder windows:

 

• My Dropbox sync/files are completely up to date

• Dropbox version 157.4.4801

• Mac Studio, Monterey 12.4, M1 Ultra Processor

• Files are stored locally on my Mac

 

Thanks so much.

  • jmu1981's avatar
    jmu1981
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

    I have the same issues: 

     

    I'm having the same issue - Dropbox is not searchable by either Mac Spotlight or the search field in the Finder windows:

     

    • My Dropbox sync/files are completely up to date

    • Dropbox version 157.4.4808

    • iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), Monterey 12.5.1 

    • Files are stored locally on my Mac

     

    Thanks so much.

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