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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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It's more simple to try the opposite. Keep Dropbox files synced on Mac. Open System preferences/spotlight. Drag and drop the HD/SSD where Dropbox files are to Privacy. Restart the machine. Open system preferences again and delete the volume from Privacy prefs. Mac will rebuild the spotlight. Take a coffee because it's take time. After rebuild, Mac OS will find files inside Dropbox folder correctly.
Hi Hannah
I rebuilt the index and repeated the process.
Dropbox items still do not show up in Finder search results context menus.
- Nancy
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey diethylether, sorry for jumping in.
In this case, can we open a ticket for you instead and take a closer look into this?
Let me know.
- Megan
Hi diethylether, I just sent you an email, I'll see you there!
With Ventura 13.3.1 & Dropbox v171.4.6182, I can confirm that
- Dropbox Files are searchable in Finder
- I can ⌘ + click and open the enclosing folder of that file
- Dropbox right click context menu items within enclosing folder are available
I'm also waiting for a reply to your question 🙂 I had enough problems with previous attempts to "update" to newest Dropbox version to be integrated with new mac os version which led to endless problems especially with spotlight indexing and finder search. I won't risk another "update" which may cause only troubles. In my case a simple solution to just uninstall and install dropbox again is out of question as a have hundreds of thousands of files to redownload a reindex which takes not only ages but albo a lot of space on hard drive (actually I won't have enough to download everything and then make some of the files available only online). So please let me know if anyone updated to newest version and is having any issues.
Yes, it is in the CloudStorage folder.
However, if I search for a filename that is an image, it shows under "Images" in spotlight, and I am unable to open the containing folder directly.
I am able to open the image directly through spotlight search.
This isn't what the expected behaviour is. PDF/Docx files seem to be ok for now.
so nothing changed since last year attempt to "integrate" Dropbox with newest mac os version. The same advice remains - DO NOT update you dropbox app 🙂
