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rthrech's avatar
rthrech
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago
Solved

Advanced search based on key phrases

I seriously need advanced searching. 

Dropbox used to have these features (like search exact phrase) in 2015, but somehow removed them. 

So how can I do advanced searching in dropbox?
Like:

 

List files with age between x and y
Contain the phrase "a b c"
are of type *.pdf

...

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  • rhut's avatar
    rhut
    3 years ago
    Hi Dropbox community!  I'm a product manager at Dropbox working on the search experience on dropbox.com.
     
    We took your feedback to heart and are happy to announce that we're adding a few new operators to help you retrieve your files/folders more quickly:
    • title:(new lead) => See results with only the specific words in title of the file
    • title:"new lead" => See results with exact phrase match in title of the file.  Note that quotes only work with title searches and can't be used to match on content
    • type:image => Filter results by a certain types like image, video, document, spreadsheet, etc.
    • type:jpg => Filter results by a certain types like file extension like jpg, png, docx, etc.
    • before:2022-01-01 => Allows you to see all content before a certain date.  Uses YYYY-MM-DD format.
    • after:2022-01-01 => Allows you to see all content after a certain date.  Uses YYYY-MM-DD format.
    • lead AND new => AND operators will show results that contain both words.
    • lead OR new =>  OR operators will show results that contain either words.

    To use these operators, login to Dropbox.com, click on the searchbox at the top, and start typing your query.  You can learn more about our operators on our help center article here:  https://help.dropbox.com/view-edit/search

     

    Note that there are some limitations:

      - This feature is Web only (for now)

      - Searches may return inaccurate results for contents of a file, certain images, and Paper docs if you're using the old release of Dropbox Paper.

      - Quotes will only work on file titles, not matches on content (for now)

     

    Try it out and let us know what you think!

     

    Thanks for your patience as we ship new features to improve your overall Dropbox experience!

     

    Rhut

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  • oversampled's avatar
    oversampled
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    Yep. Peeved about this. Let me search by extension. I want to find every file with a given extension in the Deleted Items area. I could do what I'm trying to do in ten seconds if I could type ".[file extension]" into the search bar and find every instance. Fix it please, don't make us vote!

  • dashbrook1's avatar
    dashbrook1
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    Adding my annoyance at this, since it is such a simple thing to implement that would make dropbox hugely more useful. My company are trying to push us towards OneDrive / SharePoint, and this is pushing me towards making the effort of transitioning. 

  • j0e's avatar
    j0e
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    Adding my voice to this one. Super frustrating. 

  • j4m1eb's avatar
    j4m1eb
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    adding to this - search is pathetic at the moment

  • LeslieL's avatar
    LeslieL
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    We have a paid Dropbox for Business account and I've tried the options listed to perform a specific search and it's not working properly.  I need to find a specific phrase contained inside the documents and when I perform the phrase search, every word within the phrase comes up in the search which is totally useless.  I need to be able to perform a search for a very specific phrase, and the phrase must be exactly as searched.

     

    Please help..... 

  • LeslieL's avatar
    LeslieL
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    DITTO.  Same problem here. This is a huge problem for us.

  • LeslieL's avatar
    LeslieL
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    Its 2023 now ----- Where is the resolution to advanced searching?

  • j4m1eb's avatar
    j4m1eb
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Simple Boolean search is all that is needed, it's totally ridiculous.

    trying to find "registered office" in my files and get results for "office" registered" and even "register" - Useless

  • SearchIsWorthless's avatar
    SearchIsWorthless
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    I don't even want "advanced" search or booleans - I just want search! Today I searched for "died". I got every file that has the text "di" in it. E.g. thousands of files. Completely worthless.

  • thibautbenkei's avatar
    thibautbenkei
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Is it possible to have feedback on this issue? You should be ashamed of your search engine.

    Come on, a simple search feature on file names with booleans operators. That's the minimum you can do.
    I'm sure Chatgpt can write you a code in a minute for that !

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