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Spotlight Search Doesn't Link to Files in Dropbox in macOS 13 Ventura
After upgrading to macOS Ventura, I was prompted to upgrade to "Dropbox for macOS 12". I proceeded with that, it moved my Dropbox folder to ~/Library/CloudStorage and confirmed all was successful. Now when using Spotlight to search (I often type something like 'drawings folder' to open a folder called Drawings) the results in Spotlight show the Dropbox app icon beside the name of the item I want (rather than a Finder icon for folder or file). Hitting Enter or clicking on the result switches to Finder and does nothing, or sometimes will open the Applications folder and show the Dropbox app. It's not linking me to the actual file in ~/Library/CloudStorage.
I have done the following and the problem is not solved:
- Restarted
- Ensured all files are available for offline access
- Rebuilt the spotlight index
- Unlinked Dropbox from this Mac, did a complete clean install of dropbox, performed the upgrade to v159.4.5870 and synced just one folder to begin
Nothing works. Any suggestions??
- That’s the same problem I had. I solved it by doing a complete clean install of dropbox. You may not need to do all of this, but to be safe, in Dropbox settings Selective Sync uncheck all of your folders and wait for them to be removed from your Mac. Once that’s done, unlink your Mac from Dropbox preferences. You should see the Dropbox getting started screen. Quit Dropbox and move the app to the Trash. Remove all dropbox files from ~/Library being careful to look at the path name. Only remove things that are within a Dropbox parent folder. Look in library application support, and library preferences. Empty the Trash. Restart your Mac. Reinstall Dropbox from dropbox.com. Once reinstalled, to make things faster sync only one small folder and wait for the prompt that new Dropbox for macOS 12 is available. You should see the message within a few minutes of reinstalling Dropbox. Allow it to upgrade and migrate your files to the new location. Once that’s done you can then sync all your folders. Let your Mac index itself and the problem should be solved.
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Even after completely removing both the Dropbox app and the Dropbox directory, the dead entries remain in Spotlight:
This is very annoying, as my Spotlight is now spammed with dead entries. How can we get rid of them? I tried re-indexing Spotlight using "mdutil -i on /" and "mdutil -E /" but the dead entries left over by Dropbox remain.
It does help to rebuild the index, but only for the first few minutes; after a few minutes (maybe after the index has been completely rebuilt?) the problem shows up exactly the same, again.
To summarize, this does not fix the issues.
Please, keep in mind that this makes Spotlight with Dropbox completely unusable...
- Do a clean install. Dropbox still offers the old version. Do not upgrade after that😊 I did it 3 times hoping it will help but it didn‘t
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi all, thank you for your reports so far.
For anyone who's still affected by this, would it be OK if we reached out via email to have a further look internally?
If you have already contacted our support team though, please share your ticket ID with us so that we can look it up in our system instead.
Hi, I recently did the new OSX upgrade, running Ventura, and reindexed spotlight to locate the moved files. It does see them in the search, but when I click on a folder (which has a dropbox logo now) it doesn't open. Nothing happens. However, if I click a file, that opens. I use the spotlight to locate folders dozens of times a day because I have no idea of the individual file names, so naturally, this is quite frustrating. Does anyone else have (or had) this issue?
ThanksBeen having the same issue since Ventura/latest Dropbox.
Have found a bit of a workaround for my needs which seems to work OK for me, for now anyway.
I use spotlight to find the file, I then get it shown but can't open it when I select it .... BUT it then does appear in recents so I just have a tab open to Finder's recents and then I can open the document with whatever should open the file from there.
Not perfect but at least I can still keep my way of working kinda the same.
Hello Walter,
it is definitely ok if you want to reach me via email.
Bye Richard
Downgrade - clean install (it installs an older version first) solves all the problems😊
