How to view previews of online-only files on desktop (like how you can in the mobile app)? - macOS

Why is there no answer from DB? Did anyone ever received an explanation or had contact with the DB team? This is so insane, how can I work if I don't see the previews of the files I need? What can we / I do to reach out and make DB listen? 

This has been the case for me for the last 2.5 years on both windows and mac desktop/laptop. On windows i could right click and select view offline, then SOMETIMES i could see thumbnail images. But only sometimes. On this brand new Mac Mini running the latest Ventura os I don't even get that option in the right click menu. This is bananas. I simply cannot do my work. 

And what happened DB in this conversation?? They were all over this thread back in May but they stopped responding. Not cool DB. 

HELLO DROPBOX?

WHY ARE WE ARE PAYING YOU TO MAKE OUR JOBS HARDER?

STOP IGNORING US.

FIX IT.

Hi everyone,

Sam from Community here.

Just to let you know that we've brought your reports to our team, and they are working on a solution.

We'll keep you updated here.

Thanks for your patience.

Sam

Thank you, Sam. I want to emphasize how frustrating and limiting it has become for creative professionals to use Dropbox since we no longer have the ability to preview icons. In fact, working with the system in its current state is nearly impossible. As you've seen in this thread, Dropbox is at risk of losing a significant number of users if this issue isn't resolved promptly. I, along with others, am actively exploring alternatives.

Please keep us informed about any progress, even if it's not favorable news. We require frequent updates. We need to continue our work, but if this problem can't be resolved swiftly, we'll be left with no other option but to seek alternatives.

This is what Dropbox support said to me: 

The issue you reported is something our development team is currently aware of and investigating further. The issue appears to be related to an interaction between the Sync feature and OS file explorer behavior as we attempt to sync previews of the files. We do appreciate your feedback and context on how this affects your particular use-case as we are always working on ways to improve the Dropbox application and its features.
 
We do not have a current timeline I can provide on improvements to this behavior. I would recommend ensuring that you are consistently updating to the latest Dropbox version available to take advantage of any performance improvements as they are made available.

The response from DB appears to miss the crucial point, as the employee doesn't seem to fully grasp that our specific need isn't unique; it's a fundamental requirement for all content creators who rely on previews to identify files. It's our business we're worried about. Our concern isn't about DB continually improving its application and features. The current state of DB is a complete failure for us. We don't require an upgrade; we're simply unable to maintain baseline productivity. The absence of a clear timeline is incredibly frustrating. If this issue isn't resolved within weeks, not months, we're gone. 

I implore the DB community to explore alternative cloud options that cater to creative professionals and share your experiences with those of us suffering due to DB's prolonged negligence. I operate within the media industry, and once we identify a viable DB alternative for creative professionals, I will actively pump out some media release to promote articles and content that expose this DB failure and recommend the alternative solution. 

YEP I'm a creative professional and it's happening here too. Not having thumbnail previews for online only files on mac is SO frustrating and such a complete waste of time. 

I have dropbox V183.4.7058

I have a M1 Mac Studio running macOS Sonoma 14.0

I also sometimes use dropbox from my M2 macbook air running the same OS - it is happening on that one too

It was happening on Ventura before that, from both computers.

I KNOW it's not a mac issue - all my dropbox files were perfect via my mac and I worked online-only every day until a dropbox update (can't remember when the update happened exactly, but its been at least since May) - and ever since that, all my online only files don't show preview thumbnails. 

I work as a freelancer and have this issue on my personal account > which I use to access a paid dropbox teams account from a large business I sometimes do work for. The issue happens to their entire inhouse team too, and it's frustrating everyone!

The only practical way to use Dropbox as a designer is via finder. So please don't suggest accessing from browser, I can't place images in Indesign for example, from browser, or navigate easily to the 100 or so folders I might need, and thousands of files or images. So it's bad enough having to download each dropbox file and folder I need to work on, but if I want to check something in a previous design or any number of files I might look back on, I have to download each one to see it. When I need to view photos from a shoot and find a specific few to place or edit, I CAN'T SEE THEM! I HAVE to download either a ridiculous amount of data just to view 500 photos I might not actually need, or, well, there is no alternative. THIS IS A DAILY ISSUE.

So this creates another problem: Duplicates and version control.

With no image/thumbnail preview, you're forcing everyone to download all files and folders they need to work on or even check, so the files are now synced locally on their mac. Say two designers are working from the same area, on fairly large files, if we both rename or upload a photo at the same time, because it takes a while to upload big files, we sometimes get duplicates. Version control becomes hideous, the only way I can ensure another designer will see the right version of a file I've been working on is to make it online only, then download them again immediately since I need to see previews of every jpg and pdf myself too. We do fast paced work, I access a LOT of files and folders when I work for this company and what used to be seamless is now clunky, slow and frankly barely usable. 

Embarrassingly for dropbox, they even had a warning message pop up in-app for a good few months after I noticed my issues started, saying there were issues on mac with online only files. This has mysteriously disappeared now - but the problem remains. It's surprising they aren't taking this more seriously in terms of prioritising a solution, considering macs are pretty standard in most households now, and certainly the standard for my industry.

A few of the team have started sending google drive file links, I suspect that is where we are exiting to, although I have no experience with drive myself so can't comment on the practicality of that solution. Personally I use and work from icloud drive, but there isn't really any way to share access as a team to icloud drive files and I can't see that working for teams using both mac's and PC's.

I agree with _MKT and No_Icons_No_Dragon.

I received an e-mail from Dropbox Support Team a few hours ago basically blaming third-party apps for the problem.
Instead of keeping my ticket opening, they closed my ticket as solved.
This is not what I expected from a Support team of a product that I pay monthly.
I'll migrate everything to OneDrive, that is working normally in macOS (offline and online files).

"I understand you are experiencing an issue with preview thumbnails not appearing within your Finder, for which I apologise. 
Our engineering team is aware of the issue and here’s the latest update they shared with us:
After investigation by our team of engineers, it appears this issue is related to a third-party software installed on the machine, and how it generates previews for files within Dropbox.
 
Previews are still available while changing the file from being Online Only to Available Offline. In order to see the thumbnail preview of the file:
1. Select the file.
2. Right-click and choose "Make Available Offline" within the context menu.
 
At present, I wish we could offer more help with this however the problem you’re experiencing appears to be caused by another app or service you’re using, not by Dropbox. Please be assured this matter remains under review with our engineering teams and that we're always looking for ways to improve Dropbox. We regularly release new versions of our products with better performance, additional features, and security enhancements.
I apologise for any inconveniences this may cause."
 

"Previews are still available while changing the file from being Online Only to Available Offline." This is such a weird response and beside the point we are all making here. I'm really curious WHAT is going on. This is so fundamentally at the base of the DB service that they should give it top priority instead of this BS responses. I'm not a tech person but really how hard can it be to solve this? Anyone?