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??

[jat1971]

Guess what! Even if you revert to dropbox being in the system folder, on an M2 mac and latest OS (and the latest pre move dropbox) the piece of junk still won’t allow “within folder” searches. It will still only index at the mac HD level, making it less than useless.

Both Apple and Dropbox are to blame and I suspect dropbox don’t give a **bleep**. Apple should as it’s their problem to fix as their $5K M2 is now no better than a fast ipad to me without easy file navigation

Perhaps Apple is trying to force icloud usage and if so should be fined by federal authorities and EU. We need to post wider on these issues until they take note.

[FrenchJack]

Spotlight worked perfectly on a M1 pro before this **bleep**ty update. So there must be a solution. They just have to undo what they did for this update.

https://help.dropbox.com/fr-fr/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

[jat1971]

Yes, I agree, I also have an 13" M1 and I have not updated it - and it still works fine.

What is a disgrace is the bs advice the dropbox staff are giving out - knowning full well it does not solve the problem - so many must have complained by now and yet they still have us deleting db and. reinstalling and re-downloading terabytes of data and then re-indexing over a day or two to find we are back EXACTLY where we started. 

Mean while my main work computer is about as useful as a wet fish.....

[FrenchJack]

Is there any way to install an older dropbox version again to avoid that? Anyone with an old .dmg ? Someone tried that option already? 

[jat1971]

Not managed that I'm afraid. I now have drop box v172.4.7555 back outside the cloud OS folder - i.e. back in the old location but that still does not make it operate as on an M1 or an Intel Mac. I have not tried to roll it back further. Already lost 3 days of work use of the M2 due to dropbox staff "experts".

I am assuming that without admitting liability they will release an upgrade in the coming months that solves the problem. They are an unethical company. 

[JoePL]

@FrenchJack, you can find all the older stable builds here. I have upgraded to the latest version but not opted to have Dropbox move files into the /CloudStorage location, which seems to be working fine for me. I know some people have said that on MacOS 13.3.1, the /CloudStorage indexing works fine, but there are enough people here who are still struggling with getting it to work, so I've just left my files in the original /Dropbox location. 

[JoePL]

@jat1971, was it not indexing for you in the /CloudStorage location? Curious if you were still experiencing the problem with MacOS 13.3.1? Some users have claimed upgrading to MacOS 13.3 fixes the /CloudStorage indexing issue, but some people seem to still be having the issue. 

[jat1971]

@JoePL We have to be careful defining 'working fine' - can you go into a subfolder in dropbox and search for relevant files only in that subfolder? Thats the specific problem I'm seeing and its not related to indexing per se - thats working fine in that the entire HD can be searched for the relevant files (although thats useless for my work.... )

[jat1971]

@JoePL 

"@jat1971, was it not indexing for you in the /CloudStorage location? Curious if you were still experiencing the problem with MacOS 13.3.1? Some users have claimed upgrading to MacOS 13.3 fixes the /CloudStorage indexing issue, but some people seem to still be having the issue. "

The mac OS is indexing in both the /cloudstorage location and once db was moved back to its traditional location. Indexing isn't the issue. The issue occured on 13.2 and 13.3.1 (that idea that this fixes the issue was nonsense the db people told me).

Its the spotlight functionality within the dropbox folder structure that is lost. I can't pick a specific folder and search within that folder only. 3TB of files, lots of hits per search - needs to be targeted for me... and through work spent months of time providing that structure.

The db people have absolutely no liability for the nonsense advice they give out. Other than "have you tried to restart it" every other piece of advice didn't work but did cause major disruption without any upside.

I am assuming that a new update of db and/or Os will solve the problem - and no liability admitted. 

[FrenchJack]

Even here on their website some actions dont work. I try to "like" some messages and it says "Sorry, unable to complete the action you requested." 🤣 I cant even answer to this topic without using the action "reply" to a previous message.

Anyway...

Another issue I have personally due to the new dropbox file location is that I can't use a software named "Traktor Pro 3". That's a dj software that I use for playing my music. Issue is: Traktor has no access to the library file, so I can't read the files (including all my music files of course) located in dropbox. I spent hours trying to find a solution, but I couldnt find one. It drives me crazy, I know where are the files, but I cant access them. It's like navigating into the Finder, knowing where you want to go, but you don't find the file which will allow you to arrive to your destination...