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billsavastano's avatar
billsavastano
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

Search does not return all files

Upon searching for a file with the filter of "File Name" it does not return the file I have just uploaded.  The file is being uploaded via the api, and I can confirm the file is there in the dropbox web UI.  But when the api searches for the file, it does not find the file.

 

For exmple I have the file I need in folder 2019-09-04, I get the list of folders:

[ ‘2019-09-03’,
 ‘2019-09-04’,
 ‘2019-09-05’,
 ‘2019-09-06’,
 ‘2019-09-07’,
 ‘2019-09-08’,
 ‘2019-09-09’ ]

 

Then I search for the file, and return the path of the files:

[ ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-09-03/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-09-02/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-09-01/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-08-31/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-08-30/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-08-29/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-08-27/Tues-5d2e14’,
 ‘/5d26122dfdcf1b03004644c0/2019-08-28/Tues-5d2e14’ ]

 

The file I need is not found in the 09-04 folder, even though I can confirm its there.

 

Some have suggested that dropbox indexing the files may take a while, because if I wait approximately 30 minutes the same search will find the file in 09-04 succesfully.

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

 

  • Greg-DB's avatar
    Greg-DB
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    That's correct, there can be a delay on search results for recent changes due to indexing lag. 

    Depending on your use case though, some other endpoints may be more useful to you.

    For instance, since you mentioned you're uploading via the API, note that the /2/files/upload endpoint returns the metadata for uploaded file directly in the response for the upload call, so you can use that immediately upon finishing the upload.

    Or, if you know the exact file path or ID and need to retrieve the metadata again later, /2/files/get_metadata would be the best way to get it.

    Or, if you know what folder(s) you need to list specifically, you can use /2/files/list_folder[/continue] instead.

    None of the above are subject to the same delay that the search endpoint is.

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