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Forum Discussion

Mmmooo's avatar
Mmmooo
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago
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???
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  • Mmmooo's avatar
    Mmmooo
    5 years ago
    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. 🤷‍♂️
SarahT123's avatar
SarahT123
Helpful | Level 5
4 years ago
amcoffice, I second your comments. I don't know what's been resolved? The files I moved, that weren't searchable before, still aren't searchable. This is SO annoying!
amcoffice's avatar
amcoffice
Experienced | Level 11
4 years ago

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.

  • SarahT123's avatar
    SarahT123
    Helpful | Level 5
    4 years ago

    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's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    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!

  • kymh's avatar
    kymh
    Explorer | Level 3
    4 years ago

    Hi Walter. I am still experiencing the issue. Help?

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    Thanks for the nudge kymh - I've just followed up via email, so please have a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

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