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Opening a file from Dropbox in a third party app displays files slowly, sorting incorrect
I'll try to explain the strange behavior of Dropbox. Please also note that English is not my native language. Windows 10x64 system. About three days the following happens. If I run Windows Explorer (Win+R) everything is fine in the Dropbox folders as it should be. If I click on the Dropbox icon, the folder opens and everything is fine in it too. However, if in a running application I want to open a file that is located in the Dropbox folder, I press the Open button (or Ctrl+O), a window opens and I see the files incorrectly.
They are sorted incorrectly, instead of "By date of modification" they are sorted in a strange way, it seems as if by Name (but not really). If you wait about a minute without doing anything, then they sort correctly as they should.
Therefore, I cannot open files that I have been working with recently. Because they are not on the top. If you click on the sort arrows above the columns, nothing happens. Dropbox takes a lot of time to sort files correctly. And this only happens in the "Open" window of my application.
And if you select different folders, you see that the files there are also sorted incorrectly. Although the sorting type is selected correctly, as can be seen from the arrow at the top of the column (The selected view is list).
What is most strange is that this happens on two independent computers and they are connected only by the same Dropbox account.
What was done:
various versions of dropbox were installed 191.4.4995, 194.4.6267, 196.3.6775, 195.4.4995.
Advanced reinstall has been performed. The dropbox cache has been also deleted.
The number of files in dropbox has been reduced. The remaining files were reorganized into new folders. The application was also reinstalled with a different version. Nothing helps. The file sorting is still incorrect for some reason. And the list of files seems to be loading. Whereas in Windows Explorer the file list is visible instantly and correctly sorted.
I'm ready to reinstall the entire system, but the fact is that the same problem is on a second independent computer. And the only thing they have in common is Dropbox.
My experience in dropbox is at least 10 years. I've never seen anything like it.
All the files Available offline (online-only unchecked and never used).
Home internet direct line 200 Mbit/s, no vpn, no proxies.
My working files are small (10-100kb), there are hundreds inside the folders.
But everything was fine even when there were thousands of them.
Only 50% of dropbox storage used.
Any ideas?
Thank you!
15 Replies
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- Rich
Super User II
One more test to try. Exit the Dropbox application so it's not running and see if the same behavior persists.
Exit Dropbox - problem the same.
Exit Dropbox and restart - problem the same.
Unistall Dropbox - problem the same.
Unistall Dropbox and restart- no problem. Works immediately and sorted right.
When I uninstalled Dropbox and rebooted the computer, the files showed up INSTANTLY. In the full sense of the word. When Dropbox is installed on the computer, the files seem to be loaded slowly, appear little by little, and only after a minute does their sorting finish. Even when Dropbox is not running.But to be fair, when exit Dropbox, a couple of processes still remained. And even if Dropbox doesn`t load automatically, then after the computer starts, I see working processes in memory. They are DropboxCrashHandler.exe DropboxUpdate.exe
So exited dropbox does not mean the complete absence of dropbox.
And also I see Dropbox Service (DbxSvc) on the processes. Even if Dropbox doesn`t work.
Now I'm working without Dropbox, because I uninstalled it and haven't installed it yet. The difference is incredible since all my files are showed up instantly and immediately sorted as needed. With Dropbox installed, everything happens slower and you need to wait for them to appear and sort.
I don’t understand why this happened and I can’t find the reason. I can’t remember changing or installing anything.
I also noticed that if the Internet disappears and appears, Dropbox does not connect automatically. It needs to be restarted, it doesn’t seem to see that the network has appeared. However, I don't think this is related.- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
As I already mentioned, after Dropbox is closed, at least three processes remain in the computer’s memory. So closing Dropbox doesn't free my computer from its influence.
Indexing after reinstalling said 52.000 files. In different folders of course. 6 Gb in total. However, yesterday I reduced their number and reorganized them by placing them in different folders by year. This did not affect anything, the behavior did not change.
Anyway, some more info.
Today I uninstalled Dropbox again for the experiment I was asked to do above. I worked without it for some time. Then I decided to check Windows updates and noticed error 0x80070643. I looked at what the error was and corrected it (manually resizing the recovery partition) and installed the latest update. Then I installed Dropbox again. Now I have version 196.3.6775
After reinstalling Dropbox, opening files works fine.
I'm not attributing the Windows update bug to Dropbox. And at this moment I cannot definitely say that the problem has been solved. I need time to check, I'll let you know more precisely tomorrow.
Also, my second computer has the same problem with Dropbox. And by the way, the same error occurs in Windows Updates. I need to repeat all my actions there too.
But today everything is back as it was. I think that it worked normally before the first reboot. The problem is not solved and I have no more ideas.
Files are loading slowly in the "Open" window. Whereas in Windows explorer it is displayed instantly.Early access was OFF.
196.3.6775 was installed via DropboxInstaller downloaded from dropbox.com
Also I wrote above "various versions of dropbox were installed 191.4.4995, 194.4.6267, 196.3.6775, 195.4.4995."
