Viewing files locally is incredibly slow since the February/March 25 update.

Hey d3fin3d welcome to our Community!

As a first step, what’s the version of the Dropbox app that you have installed locally on the device? You can find this by locating your little Dropbox icon on your taskbar, next to your WiFi and hovering your mouse over it. 

How many files are currently syncing locally to your Dropbox folder? You can right click on your Dropbox folder, and select "Properties" to double check that. 

Lastly, does this only happen with your Dropbox folder and no other folders on your computer?

Keep me posted.

Thank you!

1. My Dropbox app version is 219.4.4463
2. I have 200k files synced in my Dropbox folder (Essentially all my creative work, photography, design files and a few website backups; 800gb of my 2tb allocation)
3. Files outside of my Dropbox folder load normally/quickly

A couple of extra notes:

• Dropbox contextual menus also load incredibly slowly, displaying "Loading..." x3
• The Dropbox update has new icons to represent synced status. Only one of my folders has a solid green tick (always available), while the rest of my folders show a hollow green tick (available). With the new Dropbox system, it's not clear how to ensure a folder is always available or whether this will speed up local file browsing.

d3fin3d wrote:

With the new Dropbox system, it's not clear how to ensure a folder is always available ...

That hasn't changed. Right-click on a file or folder (or multiples of either) and select Make available offline.

I only see "make online-only" (which I assume means the folder is already available offline.)

My note was based on the assumption that the new status icons (available vs. always available) might be related to the incredibly slow Dropbox performance since the Feb/Mar 25 update.

Hey d3fin3d! Can you please take a look at this Help Center article for more details on the sync icons you’re currently seeing next to your folders?

If possible, I’d like you to open the folder that’s highlighted in your screenshot and send me one more visual of a file that you’re having issues with at the moment (so that I can also check its current syncing status).

Hi Nancy,

I've done some troubleshooting and I've found an interesting anomaly regarding the view settings in a Dropbox folder:

1. When I open up a Dropbox folder and set View to "Details", files open instantly.
2. When the same folder has View set to "Large Icons", the spinning wheel of death happens while the folder loads thumbnail previews.

It looks like the extreme lag with opening files is directly related to the way thumbnail previews are generated in "Large Icons"+ view. 

• Prior to the Dropbox upgrade, PDF's would show the default Adobe Acrobat file logo.
• After the update, thumbnails are trying to load previews of their contents which is delaying file opening, particularly with folders that contain hundreds/thousands of files.
  
  

List view example:

Large Icons view example:

Now the question is, a). Can file previews either be dramatically sped up, or b). can file previews be disabled as they were prior to the Feb/Mar Dropbox update?

EDIT:

I managed to find a work-around to this issue by going to File Explorer > Options > View and checking "Always show icons, never thumbnails". 

However, this issue is probably worth escalating as it is directly related to Dropbox being active and the way it handles thumbnail previews when the "Large Icons" view mode is active.

Hey d3fin3d, can I send you an email in order for us to have a closer look into this?

My Dropbox app finally updated to the new version with the status column in Windows Explorer. Dropbox version 224.4.4811  Windows 11 Pro 24H2 with current updates. This mess started at 4 PM yesterday. It's 2:20 AM the next day. It takes 15 seconds or more to open folders in my Dropbox folder. One folder didn't open at all after waiting two minutes. I can't live like this! IF I close the app everything returns to normal. After waiting hours for the system to re-index, some folders show the circular arrows. I deleted my Dropbox cache and waited another five hours for that to rebuild. Same thing. I use details view so it seems it shouldn't have anything to do with rebuilding thumbnails.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, biggraypony.

What is the sync status of the Dropbox app at the moment, when you hover your cursor over the Dropbox icon in your system tray?

Can you also check the version of the app? We're currently on this new stable version.

Hello biggraypony​ 

Yes, this is caused by the new Dropbox for Windows update. The good news is you can still opt-out of it. Here are the instructions:

1. Log out of the Dropbox desktop app.
2. Log back into the Dropbox desktop app.
3. Click Open Dropbox.
4. Make your selections on the onboarding screens.
5. When setup is finished, click Advanced settings from the final screen.
6. Click Opt out under Dropbox for Windows updates.

Hope this helps,
Andrew (DBoxTips)

P.S. I am a volunteer on the Dropbox forums, freely and happily sharing know-how with other users, not affiliated with Dropbox in any way.