Dropbox Stuck on Indexing After Migrating to New Mac (Intel → Apple Silicon via Migration Assistant)

Just wanted to share a fix that worked for me — hopefully it helps others.

After migrating from an Intel-based Mac to a new Mac with an Apple M4 Pro chip using Migration Assistant, Dropbox got stuck on “Indexing” and wouldn’t complete syncing. Some files showed green checkmarks, but others were inaccessible, and the sync process froze partway.

Likely Cause:

Migration Assistant copied over the Intel version of Dropbox, including old configuration and cache files, instead of letting Dropbox properly install its Apple Silicon–optimized version using Apple’s new File Provider API (which is required on modern macOS versions like Ventura and Sonoma).

What Fixed It:

1. Quit Dropbox completely
2. Renamed my old Dropbox folder (e.g., from ~/Dropbox to Dropbox-Old)
3. Deleted local Dropbox app support files (~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox, ~/.dropbox, etc.)
4. Reinstalled Dropbox fresh from https://www.dropbox.com/install
5. Dropbox created a new folder at ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox using the File Provider framework
6. I manually moved recent/unsynced files from Dropbox-Old into the new Dropbox folder
7. I excluded Dropbox-Old from Backblaze to avoid re-backing up duplicate data

Tip:

If you’re having similar issues, ask yourself if you used Migration Assistant from an Intel Mac. If so, the safest fix is to reset Dropbox completely and let it install fresh.

Let me know if this helps or if you’re seeing something similar!