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

[dsnidey]

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??

[diethylether]

Hi @Hannah

I rebuilt the index and repeated the process.

Dropbox items still do not show up in Finder search results context menus.

[Nancy]

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.

[diethylether]

Hi @Nancy,

Yes please, thank you. My username for Dropbox is the same one I use on this forum.

[Megan]

Hi @diethylether, I just sent you an email, I'll see you there!

[nikhil84]

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

[JoePL]

@nikhil84, can you clarify whether your files are in the older /Dropbox folder or the newer /Library/CloudStorage folder? Assuming the latter, is it indexing correctly now that you're on MacOS 13.3.1?

[Jacob]

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. 

[nikhil84]

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.

[Jacob]

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 🙂 

[JoePL]

@nikhil84, thanks for clarifying. So it sounds like the files are indexing, but you can't Cmd-double click to open the enclosing folder. Under Spotlight, does your file show in the "Photos From Apps" area? If so, if you Cmd-double click there, does it open the enclosing folder (pictured here)? This screenshot's from my system, but I have NOT upgraded to the latest Dropbox that moves the files into the /Cloudstorage folder.