Spotlight Search Doesn't Link to Files in Dropbox in macOS 13 Ventura

Okay.

So this discussion here started in last November. So many users here have complained about the changes.
The only way available to get Dropbox work as it was previously is, to uninstall, reinstall, then “keep it from being upgraded to the version for Ventura”.

I guess Dropbox engineers will not want to fix this issue.
I (or we) just want Dropbox guys announce either of “we are aware of the issue and trying to fix it”, or “it's the new specification and you'll have to accept this behaviour”. However, after three months since this thread initially opened, there is no such announcement from Dropbox.

I think I'll have to switch from Dropbox to other service(s) very soon.

Hey kohj,

The problem here is that you need the older version.  I spent a few minutes on the Dropbox site but could find anywhere to obtain older versions.

I did, however, find this site which seems to have older versions:  https://dropbox.en.uptodown.com/mac/versions

What's even weirder, is that on my computers which I did NOT upgrade (and on which search works)  it shows the same release as my computer with the new (broken) version: v167.4.4719

This is very discouraging.  Dropbox is not perfect but it's been good enough for me for over 10 years.   But like you, if they do not fix this I will have to find another solution.

And - as you said - the lack of any response from Dropbox support is unprofessional.

I will experiment with some of these older versions later today and get back.

I do not think Dropbox team will answer. At least here in this forum. It's a part of their politics - to answer means to accept there is some issue. No answer - no problem😊

The "best" way ist just mark this case as "solved" in order to involve into this issue more and more users which do not know they have to avoid a last update, provided by Dropbox. They could deactivate update notification to avoid this frustration, but they do not. And I guess, they wont..

eheilner san, thank you so much for the link to older versions.

Downgrading Dropbox is, after all, one of the “temporary hacks” until the Dropbox company releases the fixed version.

However, we cannot strongly believe that they will release the fixed version.

Anyway I submitted a “Support Ticket” online, for Dropbox's current standpoint and status. Let's see what I will receive...

Update: I got an initial reply from the support team, but it was just like the “template”, like this:

As I understand you are having issues when using Spotlight search to open your files.
 
Please try the following to resolve the issue: 
 

• Open the Dropbox folder in Finder, wait a little while, then retry the Spotlight search.
  • Since the Dropbox folder was moved to a new location with the new macOS update, it needs to be re-indexed. Opening the folder can prompt this.
• Another reason is that the entire disk might need to be reindexed. Follow these instructions from Apple to rebuild the Spotlight index.
  • Note: The help article mentions the Documents folder, but you need to use the Dropbox folder instead.
  • Also note: In some cases the entire hard disk may need to be re-indexed.

 
If none of the above steps seem to help, please let me know and I can investigate further.

Then I sent him back with details. Let's see what comes next.

The next reply (in response to my lengthy description of the issue) sounds somewhat hopeful:

Thank you for alerting us to this problem. Dropbox engineers are aware of the problem and are working on a solution.
Sorry for any inconvenience this is causing. We'll update you shortly on this issue.

I sincerely hope this “shortly” will come very shortly.

It wont help - they wont response. You have to open a ticket. But if you do, it wont help as well, because solutions they provide doesn't work. Stay on the old version and do not update! There are no other solutions at the moment

I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, but it looks like they *may* have fixed this. 

To start off with, we have 3 Macs - a Pro, iMac, and a mini.  I attempted to install an earlier version on the Pro.  It did not end well, I had to do some stuff on Terminal to remove the bad effects of what I had done.   I strongly discourage anyone from doing this.  Anyway, then I went out and grabbed the latest release from Dropbox website - and this time it installed a newer release: V168.4.4802  - and search is working under this release.  I went out to our other two Macs and somehow Dropbox had automatically upgraded to this release as well. 

AND - it looks like they're keeping the location in standard Dropbox folder: /username/Dropbox.  Yeah!

So far so good, but I'm still suspicious because there's now an alert on the Dropbox icon, and when you click on this it says "As part of this update, your Dropbox folder and files will move to a new secure location on this Mac",  i.e. ~/Library/CloudStorage.  I think we already know that this does not end well.  So I'm sticking with this release.

Needless to say, none of this gives me a warm & fuzzy feeling.

Hi

I was having the same issues, and after reading all these forums, nothing worked, then this is what has worked for me at present

I went into `~/Library/CloudStorage

Right clicked on the Dropbox Folder

Pressed "Make available offline"

And suddenly, the green ticks that were previously visible on each folder started coming in, and in a few seconds, I saw the files being searchable and opening from spotlight. I had also previously done the re-index method of the folder, but it hadn't worked. 

Hope this helps. 

Did some digging on the Dropbox site, and found this page ("Expected changes with Dropbox for macOS"). Under "Searching through Finder won’t find all content in your Dropbox folder." I found two interesting bits:

• "Search using Spotlight isn’t affected." – No comment.
• "Searching through Finder will only find online-only files or folders that have been previously accessed on your device (...) This will also affect features that depend on searching through Finder. For example, Smart Folders." – I checked and indeed: Smart Folders don’t work anymore in Dropbox after the "upgrade"!

This just seems to be getting worse...

Murtaza B.1 

If only we could create the “hard link” folder to ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox, instead of “symbolic link” (aka soft link) ...

If it could be done, I guess the issue (theoretically) will be fixed.

However, since macOS Catalina, creating a hard link “to a directory” cannot be accomplished.

Quick update to my previous post: extant Smart Folders don’t work anymore after the Dropbox update – but if you re-do the search and create a new Smart Folder, it will work.

[Update: Release v168.4.4802, but I did click the upgrade option. Haven’t downgraded yet, hoping for another solution.]

A quick suggestion to everyone on this thread - post the release you are using.  Got to Preferences and it shows the release.  The very latest release per this website:  https://dropbox.en.uptodown.com/mac/versions shows v168.4.4802.   This release IS working properly and the files are stored in the standard location.

I'm on v168.4.4802, but I'm still getting a prompt saying to Update it. I haven't done it yet out of fear of issues with Spotlight indexing and file syncing. Can you clarify what you mean by this version is "working properly?" Is it syncing subfolders and Spotlight indexing properly? 

Search is working properly for me on 3 different Macs using Version v168.4.4802;  AFAICT it is properly syncing subfolders and Spotlight as I did not have to do anything else.

Regarding the prompt to upgrade - I also see it - but I am deliberately NOT choosing that option.    I could be wrong, but I suspect that this prompt to upgrade is a bug - seeing as v168.4.4802 is the latest version.

But given the complete lack of communication from Dropbox regarding this issue it's hard to know anything with 100% certainty.

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kohji wrote:

Okay.

So this discussion here started in last November. So many users here have complained about the changes.
The only way available to get Dropbox work as it was previously is, to uninstall, reinstall, then “keep it from being upgraded to the version for Ventura”.

I guess Dropbox engineers will not want to fix this issue.
I (or we) just want Dropbox guys announce either of “we are aware of the issue and trying to fix it”, or “it's the new specification and you'll have to accept this behaviour”. However, after three months since this thread initially opened, there is no such announcement from Dropbox.

I think I'll have to switch from Dropbox to other service(s) very soon.

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I found the nice alternative to Spotlight by chance - it's “Raycast”.

When properly configured (allowing access to Desktop/Downloads/Dropbox folders etc.), it will do what I really miss with the new Dropbox + Spotlight combination: searching filenames and file contents through Raycast, Command+return showing the enclosing folder, etc., even from inside the newly located Dropbox folder.

The only shortcoming of Raycast I noticed so far is, because it has so many features (provided by various extensions), you'll need one more step (pressing return) to do File Search. But with this one keypress, everything is back to normal for me.

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When properly configured (allowing access to Desktop/Downloads/Dropbox folders etc.), it will do what I really miss with the new Dropbox + Spotlight combination: searching filenames and file contents through Raycast, Command+return showing the enclosing folder, etc., even from inside the newly located Dropbox folder. 

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While configuring initial “permissions” on Raycast, this dialog popped up.

So, I am wondering, if it would be macOS Ventura, not Dropbox, that should be fixed.

If Spotlight could have access to files and folders managed by Dropbox, Spotlight would easily search files and folders under ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox ...

Just to add my two cents that this issue is incredibly frustrating, though it does affect all kinds of cloud storage apps so not sure we should be specifically mad at Dropbox for not having an instant reaction time to it. I'm more mad at Apple for not caring about the consequences of shifting the location of the files.

But I'm more particularly writing to say there is a different workaround than I've seen mentioned in this thread (well, the first and last couple of pages that I perused when doing a deep dive on this issue this afternoon). You can simply use the native search from within the Dropbox desktop app (taskbar icon > search icon). Yes, it is one more click; yes, it requires changing your behavior; but for now I have found this the most feasible thing. (With my box-checking personality, there's no way I can install an older version of Dropbox and bear the constant "do you want to update?" proddings.)

Gave up waiting for a solution for the spotlight problems. Moved everything to iCloud Drive. Works perfectly