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Solved
Spotlight Search Doesn't Link to Files in Dropbox in macOS 13 Ventura
After upgrading to macOS Ventura, I was prompted to upgrade to "Dropbox for macOS 12". I proceeded with that, it moved my Dropbox folder to ~/Library/CloudStorage and confirmed all was successful. No...
- That’s the same problem I had. I solved it by doing a complete clean install of dropbox. You may not need to do all of this, but to be safe, in Dropbox settings Selective Sync uncheck all of your folders and wait for them to be removed from your Mac. Once that’s done, unlink your Mac from Dropbox preferences. You should see the Dropbox getting started screen. Quit Dropbox and move the app to the Trash. Remove all dropbox files from ~/Library being careful to look at the path name. Only remove things that are within a Dropbox parent folder. Look in library application support, and library preferences. Empty the Trash. Restart your Mac. Reinstall Dropbox from dropbox.com. Once reinstalled, to make things faster sync only one small folder and wait for the prompt that new Dropbox for macOS 12 is available. You should see the message within a few minutes of reinstalling Dropbox. Allow it to upgrade and migrate your files to the new location. Once that’s done you can then sync all your folders. Let your Mac index itself and the problem should be solved.
Like everybody here, I cant use spotlight anymore with my dropbox, and it's killing me. Same, 10 years with Dropbox, and now I have to reconsider my all company organization because of that shi... update. What the hell Dropbox???? Please do something!!!!! Move the file out of "library/cloudstorage", go back to the previous system!!!
Finally a solution (one solution)
Dropbox will ask you to re-index dropbox folder or delete and reinstall - this is a moronic suggestion and a waste of time.
Discussed with Apple - they had not idea either - BUT they did ask me to select all possible items to index by spotlight AND then just re-index the mac HD. This works - this solves the dropbox indexing. Note I have not yet moved dropbox to the cloud location as per the new Mac OS option. I have kept it where earlier db folders were.
I my case during migration/set-up my spotlight indexing did not tick all options. Items like "calculator" or "app" were not selected to be indexed. You might ask 'so what' I don't want to search for those things on my dropbox folder.... i.e. not obvious this is relevant to searching files within a dropbox folder....
After selecting all spotlight search categories - then moving your HD in and then out (+ then -) of the "don't index option" (Siri & Spotlight) - and wait a few hours to re-index, you will have full dropbox search options restored.
Notably, why this works is unclear - perhaps spotlight needs to index the dropbox app, as well as the folder, to search within it (that makes no sense but....)
It remains to be said Dropbox service is a complete joke - they are not only not interested in solving mac problems but they give bad advice that will waste days of your time.
