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

msheppard's avatar
msheppard
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Won't stop indexing on Mac

I installed the mac dropbox update and the application began indexing my files. It has now been stuck for the last few days. I can only access some files. Many are now only available through dropbox.com and not in my app. If I add files to dropbox.com they are added to the indexing queue of the desktop app, but no progress is made regarding indexing. I've tried signing out, quitting, uninstalling, and reinstalling. I've seen similar threads, but no solutions have worked for me. Any help is much appreciated.

  • Hi Everyone,

     

    Thanks for your patience while we investigated. We have confirmed that the problem with resyncing has been resolved with macOS Sonoma 14.1. Users should not experience a resync when upgrading to 14.1.

     

    Upgrading to 14.1 will prevent resyncing, but it will not resolve this issue for users who have already become 'stuck' on the resync upon upgrading to 14.0. We can help, but we're asking that users contact support for individual assistance.

     

    Regards,

    Ben

  • OceanSunrise's avatar
    OceanSunrise
    Collaborator | Level 8

    Hello I have been a long time Dropbox user. I have been having issues with sync on my Macbook.  I started having issues once I updated to the new Sonoma on Mac.    At work I use a PC and at home I use a Mac. When I get home and I start to use my Mac, its showing files are stuck on sync and on top of the file like an Excel file it has X marks on it with a bar showing its trying to sync but the bar does not fill up its just stuck on there. 

    The only fix I can come up with is to Restart my Mac and then it will sync but I do not want to keep restarting it does not make sense. I tried to quit the app and go back in and pause and un pause and also gave full disk access but none of it works. If someone can help me.   

    I tried everyting even uninstalled and reinstalled and nothing is working.

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

      Hey OceanSunrise, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

       

      Can you please let us know the exact sync status and version of the Dropbox app on your computer?

       

      You can hover over the Dropbox icon on your menu bar, to see this info.

       

      And also, if you click on the Dropbox icon, then on your initials/profile pic and then on "view sync issues", do you see anything reported there?

       

      Keep me posted.

      • OceanSunrise's avatar
        OceanSunrise
        Collaborator | Level 8

        Hi its saying constantly syncing.   It should only take a second to sync everything but the syncing wheel keeps going and not syncing my files.   

  • kurtrichard's avatar
    kurtrichard
    New member | Level 2

    Dropbox is stuck at "indexing" for weeks on my Mac (macOS Sonoma 14.0). Tried quitting/restarting dropbox, tried to pause indexing for a while. None of that worked.

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

      Hey kurtrichard, I moved your post to this relevant thread, so you can take a look at Ben's solution here.

      • Kurt S.4's avatar
        Kurt S.4
        New member | Level 2

        Hi Hannah

        Thanks, but has no solution. In that thread he only writes that want should contact dropbox and ask for individual advice.

  • dlsheng's avatar
    dlsheng
    Explorer | Level 3

    Since I updated my mac to Somona 14.1.1, Dropbox stopped working and is stuck syncing forever.

     

    What I have done:

     

    1. Restart Dropbox and Macbook, didn't work.

    2. Reinstall Dropbox, didn't work.

    3. Make sure Dropbox app has full disk access, still didn't work.

     

    Any idea how to solve this?

  • effinsyv's avatar
    effinsyv
    Helpful | Level 5

    So I've been running overnight and everything appears to be working.

    My Question now is, What if I don't bother "upgrading" to File Provider. Is that a problem? Is there any real benefit to it other than having my dropbox files in the cloudstorage folder?

     

    I'd love to hear some feedback from users or DB staff as to why I need to update (since it works now).

    • Teddy73's avatar
      Teddy73
      Collaborator | Level 9

      effinsyv my advice is to upgrade to File Provider, its the new system required by Apple, if you stay on the old non-File Provider, it won't be supported and things will probably start breaking with new software upgrades on MacOS and Dropbox.

       

      Konigi I can understand your decision, we have all learnt a lot about how unvalued we are as customers here ðŸ˜‰

      • effinsyv's avatar
        effinsyv
        Helpful | Level 5
        That’s what I was afraid of. Guess I’ll give it a shot this weekend.
  • effinsyv's avatar
    effinsyv
    Helpful | Level 5

    Hi all,

     

    I just wanted to close this up my experience with the dropbox debacle. As mentioned in previous replies, I was able to get DB working. I successfully did the file provider update. That was pretty much a non-issue once I blew the whole thing away and started over. The last step in the saga was to redo the DB Backups that I had, which was an external drive and my Mac Doc/Desktop Folders. The Mac HD folder was quick and easy and the External was successful as well, although it took all weekend to get it uploaded.

     

    My suggestion is to baby step through everything and make sure you have enough time to sync up before unplugging or disconnecting from the internet,  just to eliminate a variable. Good luck out there!

    • effinsyv's avatar
      effinsyv
      Helpful | Level 5

      Well, I'm back- either a Sonoma update or DB update broke it again. No other changes- still 1000 files waiting to index. I'm at a loss as to why I have to spend so much time trying to make this work. Strange thing is my files seem to be syncing without a problem, but there are always about 1000 files syncing. Does anyone know if DB saves a log of the files that are stuck in perpetual sync? If so (and I can access it), maybe I can figure out what's going on. I'm wondering if it's a permission thing with one of my folders? If I knew what was not syncing, I could probably sort it out.

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

        Hey effinsyv - sorry to hear about this.

         

        Could you please send us a screenshot of the app's exact status and version as shown in your menu bar at the moment?

         

        Also, if you navigate to the app' and click on your profile icon, do you see anything listed under the 'Sync issues' option? 

About Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

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!