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Dropbox is not searchable in Mac OS Monterey 12.0.1
Dropbox files/folders are not searchable in spotlight on new MacBook Pro with M1 chip - Monterey OS 12.0.1. Have re-indexed spotlight. Have uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox and rebooted. Have made sure Dropbox has full access in Security and Privacy. Help please?
I have found a solution, everyone! I hope everyone struggling with this will find this post. The problem isn't with dropbox, it's with Mac Spotlight. Which surprised me, as I always thought the finder search was separate from Spotlight, but apparently, on the back end, both are one-in-the-same. I've heard many times that re-indexing spotlight didn't work, but it does! You just have to do it a different way for everything to ACTUALLY 100% reindex.
Tutorial is here on apple's forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253479408
Just giving credit where credit is due.
In case that goes away, instructions are also listed below.
- Open System Preferences and go to Spotlight's Privacy tab.
- Add the entire hard disk INTO the Privacy list.
- Maybe wait 30s.
- Remove the hard disk FROM the Privacy list.
Spotlight will re-index. After finish re-indexing, the search in folder works for me.
(To see if Spotlight is indexing, use Command+Space to invoke Spotlight, and type in something. Wait a second. You should see a progress bar to show indexing progress)
Of note, I am on Mac OS Monterey 12.6 (21G115). My dropbox version is 158.4.4564. These are both the lastest, as of now, 10.3.2022.
Hopefully this helps! Changed my life - I can work again!
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YEs I tried making the folder private then allowing it to be indexed.. Ive tried doing that to the whole hard drive.. What else can I try?
- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Chris L.22, is it possible for you to update your macOS to 13.3 or higher? That should resolve this issue on your computer.
Hello,
I have tried re-indexing Spotlight but it still does not work. I have McBook Air and iOS 13.4.1 and the issues started after Dropbox relocated my files.
I am thankful for any help.
- Hannah
Hey youmailtocarlos, just to clarify, are you having an issue searching files through Spotlight in general, or does it not work when you click on the files in the Spotlight search?
Hello Hannah,
It's becoming even stranger, I've recently observed. Spotlight instantly locates documents containing the word(s) I input into the search window IF the document is stored on my Macintosh HD outside of Dropbox. But if I navigate to a specific document where I'm certain the searched word exists and open it manually, then Spotlight is able to locate the document itself. Does this make sense? It's as if I'm creating a pathway for Spotlight to access the documents I manually open, yet it seems Spotlight cannot discover them on its own otherwise. How can I fix it in order not to have to open every single document in Dropbox to make them searchable? Thank you for any help.
- Hannah
Yes, the same story.
I would make sure that the document is not online only and only brought to your computer when it opens. Spotlight has trouble with finding those files. Once you click on it, it is downloaded to your computer and can then be found by Spotlight. There should be an icon next to the file telling you the status (online only or on your computer).
The only way I am able to search for my Dropbox files now, which are all on the hardrive and which I re-imaged by taking the hard drive in and out of Spotlight, is by selecting "This Mac" instead of "Dropbox" when on the search screen. Other people previously mentioned this quirk and how to get Spotlight to update so it can find things again.
- Walter
For anyone still having this issue, could you try re-indexing your Spotlight and let us know how it goes?
