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Forum Discussion
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. Now when using Spotlight to search (I often type something like 'drawings folder' to open a folder called Drawings) the results in Spotlight show the Dropbox app icon beside the name of the item I want (rather than a Finder icon for folder or file). Hitting Enter or clicking on the result switches to Finder and does nothing, or sometimes will open the Applications folder and show the Dropbox app. It's not linking me to the actual file in ~/Library/CloudStorage.
I have done the following and the problem is not solved:
- Restarted
- Ensured all files are available for offline access
- Rebuilt the spotlight index
- Unlinked Dropbox from this Mac, did a complete clean install of dropbox, performed the upgrade to v159.4.5870 and synced just one folder to begin
Nothing works. Any suggestions??
- 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.
The new Dropbox (files moved to Cloud) the MacOS Spotlight search in Finder "Search by current folder" option does not yield any results - when switched back to global spotlight search it yields results as expected. Bug in new system architecture?
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi dominic k.2, happy February 2nd!
Can you try out the steps my colleague provided here, and let me know if this worked out for you?
In case this made no difference, feel free to send me a couple of screenshots, demonstrating what you see on your end.
Keep me posted!
Please read the above messages. We are able to get db searchable by adding it to the privacy list, however we are unable to open the files in finder...only open the files directly.
dominic k.2 wrote:The new Dropbox (files moved to Cloud) the MacOS Spotlight search in Finder "Search by current folder" option does not yield any results - when switched back to global spotlight search it yields results as expected. Bug in new system architecture?
I am seeing this as well. My default search is "Search the Current Folder" so I noticed this bug right away
Same problem here (Mac M1 Mini, Ventura 13.1). My workaround for now is to scroll to the bottom of the Spotlight window, select "Search in Finder", and open the file from the resulting Finder window. (My files are all available offline (on my SSD); I don't know if this will work for online-only files.)
Spotlight customer service has been terrible on this issue. I assume they're working on a fix, but it's only an assumption, because there's been no serious communication with their customers (paying or otherwise.)
- there's no serious communication with customers. And I do not expect there will be some…Dropbox Team just closed the door and is not going to accept there is an huge issue… Such a pity for such a great company…
- Megan
Hey dsnidey, thanks for posting here!
Could you confirm the version of the Dropbox desktop application you're running? You can do this by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in the system tray or menu bar.
Is the app showing 'up to date' or is it still syncing in you menu bar?
Also, feel free to try and quit the Dropbox desktop application and then search for the files again in Finder.
Keep me posted!
Hi, like I wrote before, a newest Dropbox update broke my Spotlight completely. So I installed Dropbox again like I described and it worked again perfectly. Dropbox asked me again to migrate the data, because otherwise I "wont be able" to use the all functionality with my macOS 13.1. But it still worked very well. Hm...I thought I wont do it, because it was possibly a reason why my Spotlight didn't work any more. But after I got an email from Dropbox encouraging me to accept the update, I thought, probably Dropbox team did some corrections and this time I will succeed. For my huge disappointment - the same procedure, the same result.
I would recommend everybody - DO NOT accept a Dropbox request to update to a newest version and to move your data to user/CloudStorage location as it brakes a Spotlight search o my mac system completely! Here are 2 screenshots:
If you go forward with it, your Spotlight wont work properly any more:
Trying to search for Bartok pieces on my Dropbox. No Preview (just seldom slim Finder icons), cannot open any file, not possible to locat a file with Control click:
Hi, I'm running 160.4.4703. After a clean install and allowing all files to download locally and finish syncing it now seems to be working for the most part. There are some folders that still show in spotlight search results with a Dropbox icon rather than a folder icon, even though their parent folders are set to be available offline. All icons show everything is up to date. Any ideas? Yes quitting dropbox solves the problem but that is not a viable solution...
Same problem here.
I can see Dropbox files in the Spotlight search, but when clicking on them nothing happens.
Dropbox version is v 160.4.4703
I'm having the exact same issue, and I have tried all the solutions offered in this 5-page thread. Nothing works. This makes Dropbox non-functional for me! Please add me to the ticket. I am running the newest version of Dropbox and OS Ventura 13.0.1.
I previously requested being added to the open ticket for this, but so far I haven't been. This issue makes Dropbox nearly useless to me. Unless this is fixed or addressed soon, I will no longer be using Dropbox.
After the latest Dropbox update, I'm no longer able to open Dropbox files directly from Spotlight (macOS's file search function). I know this is due to a Dropbox issue because I can still open other files using Spotlight as long as they're saved locally, like on the Desktop.
What workarounds are there? Can I revert back to an old Dropbox version? This is a pretty significant QoL issue for my Dropbox usage
Thanks - I'm using v163.4.5456.
See attached screenshot for what I'm talking about. Generally, I can able to open files by using cmd-SPACE to search and then the arrow keys and ENTER to select and open a file. I can still do this for files not saved in the Dropbox folder, but not for files in Dropbox.
You can actually see in the screenshot which files are in the Dropbox folder versus which ones are not: if it's in Dropbox, the document icon is the Finder icon -- if it's not saved in Dropbox, the file icon displays normally. I believe this indicates some sort of permission-ing issue at the heart of this.
I am testing dropbox at the moment and wanted to go for the paid version. After finding out that Finder search for dropbox isn't working (see article here https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes) and tests I have done, I think I will leave that for now.
Applications like Alfred and Houdahspot work with the changes caused by Ventura. It is a clear message from dropbox that there is no priority for supporting dropbox on Mac OS when you see small software companies manage to solve the issue and dropbox just writes an article that it doesn't work.
Hi,
After Dropbox upgrade I could not find any file in Dropbox folder in finder.
When I search for files with Spotlight that are in my Dropbox folder, Spotlight correctly shows files that are in my Dropbox folders, but when I click on such files, nothing happens. Looking at the corresponding file in the Dropbox folder from Finder, I can see an icon from Dropbox: hovering over that icon, I see the message "couldn't communicate with a helper application". This happens both for files that are "online only" and for files that have already been downloaded (or set as "offline". I'm pretty sure that's been happening since the update to Ventura 13.1 (22C65).
If I simply double click on a file in a Dropbox folder from Finder, I can open that file (if it's offline, Dropbox first downloads the file).
- Hannah
Thanks for reporting this, lorebett.
Can you try to rebuild the Spotlight index, to see if that helps at all?
It does help to rebuild the index, but only for the first few minutes; after a few minutes (maybe after the index has been completely rebuilt?) the problem shows up exactly the same, again.
To summarize, this does not fix the issues.
Please, keep in mind that this makes Spotlight with Dropbox completely unusable...
Hi, I recently did the new OSX upgrade, running Ventura, and reindexed spotlight to locate the moved files. It does see them in the search, but when I click on a folder (which has a dropbox logo now) it doesn't open. Nothing happens. However, if I click a file, that opens. I use the spotlight to locate folders dozens of times a day because I have no idea of the individual file names, so naturally, this is quite frustrating. Does anyone else have (or had) this issue?
ThanksSame here - the documents inside the new Dropbox folder will be listed in the Spotlight search result, but won't open (by pressing return) nor won't display (by Command-regurn). Uninstalling / reinstalling won't help.
Interestingly enough, Spotlight won't show up the document inside the new Dropbox folder, but it will show up the "folder" inside the new Dropbox folder.
I'm having the same problem. I tried the fixes recommeded by Dropbox folk, but with no luck.
Here is a screenshot:
