Dropbox folder in File Explorer in Windows 11 is painfully slow

I'm not in the camp that this is a windows 11 problem. I had the EXACT same problem while I was running Windows 10. Loading files in explorer is painfully slow (and often they don't load at all). Indeed, my updated to 11 was partially to see if it would fix the dropbox problem. It didn't. I can also report that all my other cloud services work perfectly. Box, OneDrive, for example. It's only dropbox that isn't working. So I think it's a dropbox issue. My issue is on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, and I've tried virtually every workaround I found in this community and elsewhere.

Good news everybody! Microsoft appear to have fixed this issue. I updated my Windows 11 machine with January 25, 2022—KB5008353 (OS Build 22000.469) Preview this morning (a recommended update on the regular user stream - not the insider program). This update (which took a while) seems to have addressed the File Explorer performance issue which is now an order of magnitude snappier. Sure enough the description includes the following text "Addresses some issues that affect File Explorer’s performance when you browse for files and select files." So I think we're there 🙂

Hey, the update did not resolve my issue.

I spent about 4 hrs with Windows support recently and they said it was a bug. 

So I guess I will wait and see for future updates.

It didn't do it for me either. I'm still convinced it's at least partially a Dropbox problem, and I have been working with them to no avail. I offer something else on my particular case in case it applies to any of you (which I recently shared with my Dropbox ticket)... I have two accounts on my Surface Laptop 3, both are administrators. The other account was set up first, and dropbox installed first (on a different account). Mine was set up later as an administrator and also because I have deinstalled and reinstalled Dropbox many times in the debugging process. In any event, Dropbox does NOT have the crazy slow problem on the other account. It works just fine. Only on mine. So I find that too much of a coincidence. As I shared earlier, i've tried everything I found here and elsewhere to no avail, but Dropbox is investigating this new angle. Also, the Dropbox Windows S mode app works perfectly on my account, and all other cloud services work perfectly (OneDrive, Box).

It seems some users are still having lag issues despite Microsoft's recent KB5008353 update. My guess is the lag is caused by a number of different factors, judging by Microsoft's description of the update "Addresses some issues that affect File Explorer’s performance when you browse for files and select files." (emphasis mine). I have removed the solution flag from my previous post to keep this issue open in the hopes that someone else may have a solution.

So I continue you have the slow lag issue when using dropbox, onedrive and MS teams in the windows 11 explorer.

But I have noticed if I am printing a PDF and navigate to any of these online services folders the lag disappears and it goes back to normal speed in the 'save as pdf' explorer. 

This makes me think its 100% a windows issue with the win11 update.

Would great to see if anyone else is having this issue that temporarily fixes itself in the save as explorer window. 

Not for me. OneDrive, Box just fine. Only issues is in Dropbox. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11

FWIW, I am having the same problem, only on my new laptop with Windows 11. I have two other laptops running everything else the same, except on Windows 10, and they are fine. No problems with One Drive, just Dropbox in File Explorer. Guess I'll report to MS as well!

My issue went away. No idea why. I didn't use dropbox for about a week (used the Dropbox Windows App, which is ok, but not all the functionality I need). Then one day it just started working. No updates came in, no notes from dropbox. Mystery to me.

Same here. DropBox takes 25 to 28 seconds to open a folder. GoogleDrive and OneDrive are both instant.

I have tried the "revert to explorer from Windows 10" suggestion with no success. My machine is fully up to date.

A laptop running windows 10 has no issue.