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Forum Discussion
QuickLook is flickering on Mac OS
Integration Affected
Finder
Device
MacBook Air, M3, 16GB RAM
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
macOS Tahoe 26.2
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
242.3.5699
Question or Issue
I have been having the same issue as described in this thread for at least 1 month. It makes Quick Look (and therefore Finder) really awful to use. If you try to QuickLook or preview a pdf, image, etc. the quicklook state resets and refreshes. For example, I navigate in Finder to a pdf in my dropbox. I press SPACE to quicklook the item. I scroll down the PDF. The QuickLook resets/refreshes and I lose my place in the document. There is a huge impact on everyday tasks.
Troubleshooting efforts:
- I viewed this topic and followed the suggestions there. It did not help.
- If I quit the Dropbox app, the issue persists.
- I found something really interesting. If I look at the Path Bar at the bottom of Finder, the folder icons keep changing several times per second (matching the flickering in QuickLook). Sometimes the icons in the Path Bar show as blank gray squares with dashed outlines or Green folders with check marks. It appears that these mini icons are constantly changing. If I disable the Path Bar, then the flickering stops in the quicklook. Again this happens in the Dropbox section of Finder, and not elsewhere. I've shown an example of the two options I see flicker on the Path Bar. Again the file previews and quicklooks flicker also, which is more problematic. I point out the Path Bar as a potentially useful piece of information to determine the problem.
Thank you!
12 Replies
- Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi jking1, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
If you're not on a Dropbox Basic plan with more than 3 devices connected, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?
Keep me updated with any progress!
Hi. I had (or still have?) this same problem: flickering QuickView and also in the preview panel. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents...
My setup:
Device
MacBook Pro M3 Pro , 36GB RAM
Operating System
macOS Tahoe 26.2
Dropbox App Version
243.4.6956
Plan
Basic free planI got similar symptoms as informed in this thread and in the link also referenced by OP. I solved it by simply force relaunching Finder.
Thing is, if this is going to happen again or what's more important.... what triggers this behavior?
I have exactly the same issue as the original poster. Yes, relaunching Finder fixes it temporarily, but it comes back in a matter of minutes, hours — every single time.
Hi Hannah,
I'm on the latest macOS (Tahoe 26.3.1), but this started happening with Sequoia. Always updated to the latest Dropbox version automatically; now on 243.4.6956.
Asking Claude about this issue, one of the solutions was deleting an (old?) Dropbox plugin from ~/Library/QuickLook/
I did that a few hours ago and seems to be working for now. I will confirm here in the next few days if the issue doesn't reoccur.
From my experience, relaunching Finder only fixed it for a few hours, so the issue would come back same/next day.
Thanks
Hi Jay
A few days in, and the problem hasn’t come back! I will comment again if it does. But normally every other fix I tried (like relaunching Finder) would only work for a few hours.
jking1 FYI see fix that worked for me.
I think the file was called DropboxQL, a leftover from a previous version or from a change of computer.
