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Forum Discussion

jessifishman's avatar
jessifishman
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

Files online but not in Windows explorer

I have seen that this was an issue in the past, but the solutions are now out of date, so I am hoping someone can help me with this. Sometimes files that I know are in Dropbox, and that appear in D...
desktop
Download
File access
Folders
sync
jessifishman's avatar
jessifishman
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

Hi Hannah 

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what you mean by "locate them manually." Do you mean scroll through Windows Explorer to try to find the file? That's not feasible, as we have thousands of files, which is why we need the search function to work. And no, there are no incompatible characters. Thanks!

Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago
Hi jessifishman, could you clarify what you mean by 'search' for the files? Are you searching in Explorer itself?

How exactly do you download the files from Dropbox? If the files are syncing via the app, you shouldn't get any option to replace the file, since it does so automatically.
  • jessifishman's avatar
    jessifishman
    Explorer | Level 4
    4 years ago

    Hi Jay ,

    Yes, I search for file names in File Explorer itself. Ideally I'd be able to search for content, as well, not just file names, but that's a separate issue. (Though feel free to help if you can there!)

    When I search, and the file does not appear in Explorer, I go to Dropbox online, search for the file, then click the three dots next to the file I want, and click Download. I save it to my desktop, and then drag it over to where it should go in my Dropbox files in File Explorer, which is when it asks if I want to replace the file.

    Hope this info helps. Thanks for your help.

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      4 years ago
      If you click the Dropbox icon in the system tray, have you tried searching for the file from there by clicking the magnifying glass icon?
      • jessifishman's avatar
        jessifishman
        Explorer | Level 4
        4 years ago

        I can try that next time it happens, but since I'm using File Explorer for everything else Dropbox-related, I would hope that the searches would work there. 

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