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search_v2 API does not find some files

search_v2 API does not find some files

jjsk
Explorer | Level 4

I'm not able to find some of the files that definitely exist in the dropbox folder.  The API call comes back empty but I can download the file using the full path.  Below is an example of such file, and the result of the query.   I've tried different search strings and none of them worked for this specific file.  

 

The API does find other similarly named files in the same folder.  It just seem to selectively fail for some files.  How can I troubleshot this?

 

 

 
{
  "name": "KC3NIH_de_WB0TEV_NAQPSSB_USB_20210116_204712Z_14MHz.mp3",
  "path_lower": "/naqpssb_2021/kc3nih_de_wb0tev_naqpssb_usb_20210116_204712z_14mhz.mp3",
  "path_display": "/NAQPSSB_2021/KC3NIH_de_WB0TEV_NAQPSSB_USB_20210116_204712Z_14MHz.mp3",
  "id": "id:flgIB4rfIlAAAAAAAAByIg",
  "client_modified": "2021-01-16T20:47:33Z",
  "server_modified": "2021-01-18T03:20:42Z",
  "rev": "5b92434fef753560e3bbc",
  "size": 180975,
  "is_downloadable": true,
  "content_hash": "ac06c9d88742b0cb113b5620bba7892f46a9c95f151ad14ed47de4e580ca5fb8"
}

 

jjsk_0-1615752526693.png

5 Replies 5

Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff

The results from /2/files/search_v2 aren't always exhaustive unfortunately, but we can check on this internally if you'd like. It'd best if you open an API ticket if so, preferably while signed in to the relevant account if possible (if it's one you control). Thanks!

jjsk
Explorer | Level 4

Hello I will open a ticket, however this sounds like an indexing problem with the new search API.   a search by file name should NOT fail, otherwise what is the point of storing files in the dropbox if you can't find them later.

 

when you say the search is not "exhaustive" what does this mean exactly?   Is dropbox going to address the root cause?

 

 

Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff

The /2/files/search_v2 documentation currently says:

Recent changes may not immediately be reflected in search results due to a short delay in indexing. Duplicate results may be returned across pages. Some results may not be returned.

I can't promise if/when that may be updated, but I'll pass this along as a feature request. Thanks for the feedback!

jjsk
Explorer | Level 4

> Some results may not be returned.

 

it sounds like something is fundamentally broken with this API and it should not have been released  to production.  

things were fine in the past, but now i have users of the app reporting random failures.

 

Anything you can do to address this would be appreciated.

 

Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff

Thanks for the note! I can't make any promises myself, but I've sent this along to the team.

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