Smart Sync - Windows Explorer Search Not Working

Following in the hope of getting an answer 

Long time user of Dropbox;

Here's the solution;

*Onedrive*

Hi folks,

I wanted to jump in again as my other posts are getting lost in the thread.

This is something we are aware of, it's also something we are working very hard on internally to resolve. Navigating this particular OS behavior is not a simple, quick fix. We've been working on it for some time due to the complexities and dependencies. We also have to put any fix through rigorous internal testing before we release it into the beta, then stable.

At present we are still testing internally and I hope to be able to update in the near future and give you all an idea of when this will land first in the beta.

Many thanks!

Still no update...nothing to report on this fix, correct?

Hi there,

I am a Dropbox Business admin using Windows 10 with Dropbox desktop app installed. For online-only files, can they be indexed and searched through file explorer rather than dropbox.com? I initially thought that this is not possible but someone I know who is also a business user said that he is able to search his online-only files on file explorer. 

Hi Jay Thanks for the quick response! As I was digging more into this after I posted the query, I another forum thread that talked about this https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Installation-and-desktop-app/Smart-Sync-Windows-Explorer-Search-Not-Working/td-p/206724/page/3 

Now I am a bit confused because on that thread it seems that searching for online-only files should be possible and Dropbox is currently looking into this issue? 

I am having the problem with Windows 7 as well as Windows 10. Still no fix?

After SmartSync was introduced, most of our files are online only.

Today i needed to find a folder location for a named like file. 

I started searching a "like filename" in the Browse for files dialog of a browser, in the Dropbox folder. It found nothing. I relaxed the search, it found 2 files, not what i knew existed. I said - ok - the search is now broken in dialogs or DropBox paused.

Trying again with an Explorer window and DropBox active, same result.

I ended up going online, to search for the files. For 15 seconds, DropBox online showed exactly the same files as on my PC, but left an end placeholder. After time, it populated the correct results with all files and i found the needed folder name. 

I personally split the search concept into - file properties, metadata and file content. Ok, the file is online, and has no content. Same with metadata. But Explorer knows file properties - file name, real size, dates and attributes. 

How do i get Windows Search to index at least the names of the files that are online?

Thanks,