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Solved
Search not working
Dropbox search can’t find anything. The files, however, are there. How can I make Dropbox find them or reindex them???
- Solved. Miraculously the search tool is finding files again after going on an unexplained weeks-long holiday.
If anyone else experiences this problem, try waiting it out. 🤷♂️
I put a large photo collection in Dropbox to save space on my laptop. I access Dropbox exclusively through my web browser, not the app. Recently I reorganized some photos into new folders, and now they cannot be found using search. The files are there when I go into the folder, but it's like they are invisible to the Dropbox search tool. I thought it just might take some time for the folders to re-index, but its been several days and they still don't come up in search results. What's weird is that new photos that I upload to the folder are searchable, but the ones that I moved into the folder are not. I'm very frustrated and wondering if I have to download all the photos from these folders and re-upload them just to make them searchable, which would be a pain. I'm also frustrated as it seems that I should never reorganize anything or I will never be able to find it again using search. To be honest, I'm wondering if Dropbox was the right solution for my cloud storage needs and maybe I should have used a different platform.
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHi all, thanks for your reports so far.
I just wanted to mention that there's an issue with the search functionality and you can track this incident on this page.
Our engineers are working to fix the issue and we'll make sure to keep you posted with any updates we may have.
Once again, thanks for flagging this with us.
After updating client, my Dropbox don't search correctly in client.
I'm SysAdmin and in all of my computers, it's the same.
Can you help me? I need to downgrade Dropbox or can I wait for the next version because come soon?
PD: Sorry for my English, it's not so good 😞
Thank you Walter, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the problem is resolved quickly. I've used the free version of Dropbox for over 10 years and have generally been happy with it. At least, I never noticed that anything was missing from search results. Granted, it was only the free version, so I wasn't using it to back up a large number of photos like I am now. I finally decided to upgrade to a paid account and am disappointed to discover problems now.
Thank you Walter ,
It took me a couple of times to try to subscribe but I am now subscribed. I do hope they fix this ongoing search issue. It's gone on for way too long and I'm glad they're finally trying to resolve it.
Best,
~ jeanne
- According to incident page referenced in your post, the search issue has been "resolved."I must disagree, even if the search issue is "resolved" for files going forward, Dropbox has still now resolved the problem that files apparently uploaded, renamed and/or moved during the span of the most recent search problems are still not searchable.If so, that means that my work the last few weeks has been for naught.Walter, what is dropbox doing to make all of the files uploaded, renamed and/or removed during the search problem searchable? Will Dropbox fix that issue, re-index all files, or do whatever Dropbox needs to do to make ALL files fully searchable again. I've spent way-too-much time documenting all of this over the last few weeks. See my Tickets #19064142, #19082558, and #19046051 (two of which have been marked "closed" for some reason, but that's yet another Dropbox issue I'm dealing with, since the search problems are not fully resolved) for numerous screenshots documenting the problem then and up till today.When will files uploaded, renamed, and/or moved during the most recent search problem in the past few weeks be fully searchable?Thank you,Judith
CORRECTION TO MY EARLIER POST:
I must disagree, even if the search issue is "resolved" for files going forward, Dropbox has still NOT resolved the problem that files apparently uploaded, renamed and/or moved during the span of the most recent search problems are still not searchable.
I noticed something today. The search functionality seems to depend on whether I search from a higher level folder. I used a nested folder system to organize my photos, as an example you can think of it this way:
—Photos
——National Parks
———Wyoming
So let's say I have 5 photos under "Yellowstone" named "Yellowstone Bear 1", "Yellowstone Bear 2" .... "Yellowstone Bear 5"
This is what happens when I search for the word "bear"
—Photos: all the Yellowstone Bears show up!
——National Parks: I get "Yellowstone Bear 5" and 26 bear photos from other national park folders. Yellowstone Bear 1-4 are missing from the search results.
———Wyoming: only "Yellowstone Bear 5", Yellowstone Bear 1-4 are missing
This is very perplexing to say the least!
And yes, I confirmed that Yellowstone Bear 1-5 are all in the Wyoming folder.
EDITED: I tested this with some other photos and some show up in search results from the highest level folder, but others do not.
I'm feeling very upset with Dropbox right now. I am considering moving all of my photos to a different platform (which is going to take a huge amount of time) and cancel my paid Dropbox account. What a giant pain and extremely disappointing for a service that has been around for so long.
- Walter
Hi all, thank you for your reports and sorry for the late reply.
If any of you are still facing issues with searching your Dropbox files, please let us know here and we'll reach out via email to investigate further.
Thanks!
Hi Walter. I am still experiencing the issue. Help?
Just gonna jump in here—I wrote on this forum months ago that the MacOS desktop Dropbox folder is not searchable by the finder, nor is it even findable by the finder. From the root folder of the laptop the contents of my dropbox can be searched, but not from anywhere else.
On MacOS 13.1 the problem persists.
Yes, the app reports "Your files are up to date"
Please fix this. It's been too long.
Jumping-in here; the status page declares the issue resolved and clearly it has not been resolved.
Hello Megan; attached you will find screenshots showing what I described in prior post.
Using the web version is not acceptable to me, please fix the desktop app and the MacOS integration in particular.
Poor search: finds "00-" & invalid itemsWeb search at least found the folderSearch within entire machine finds itemsearch within Dropbox on MacOS 100% fail
App version
Thank you,
m
Hello NAncy! Thank you for your questions.
I updated to the latest Dropbox version earlier today. Then tested to see if the situation is the same as it has been for months and the answer is: YES.
As shown by the screenshots in prior message.
Thanks for asking,
best regards & Happy Hols,
m
Thank you Megan, for following-up.
m
