Beta Build 148.3.4469

[clientreleases]

Thanks for using Dropbox! The desktop client is regularly updated with many improvements and fixes.

Features in this update: 

• We're transitioning to using GUIDs to manage the taskbar icon.
  • Some users will notice their taskbar icon position preferences will not be remembered during the transition.

• Optimization of large uploads has resumed after restart of the Dropbox client.
• Transfers can now be sent by link or email during the creation process.
• Sharing of backup content within the Dropbox desktop app has been suppressed.
  • Sharing of non-backup content within the Dropbox desktop app remains the same.

 
Fixes in this update: 

• A typo has been corrected in the alert dialogue prompted when users attempt to start backup for a team account with admin disabled.
• Issues with changing folders for an external drive backup when the folder name contains # has been fixed.

Download

Windows	Standard Installer	Offline Installer
Mac OS X	Standard Installer (Universal)	Offline Installer (Intel) Offline Installer (Apple Silicon)
Linux	x86_64 Offline Installer	x86 Offline Installer

Auto-updates: Everyone who chose "Include me on early releases" on the Settings page

This is an early release feature that is subject to these additional terms.

[jekratz]

Offline file stuff isn't working right. I dont know if its just the online indicator that isnt working right or its the full thing. But I have to go into subfolders sometimes to get them to be offline. Definitely is not working right. and this is build 149.2.555. Again I dont know why this forum is so far behind on the releases that are actually being pushed out.

[Michael B.10]

Weird that you are on a separate beta series...149.X.YYYY!

I am seeing some odd behaviour but not quite the same. 

All my Dropbox files are correctly indicated "online only" or "available offline" and seem to be behaving correctly.

BUT, I use DEVONthink to index all my Dropbox files and DEVONthink is showing some folders (not enclosed files) as being online only. So there is some under-the-hood property of some folders that causes DEVONthink to report them online only even though they are available offline.

I can eliminate this for most (but not all) affected folders by going to the affected folders in Finder and right click>make available offline......even though the folders are already available offline and do not have a cloud symbol next to them. 

[hsiktas]

This is probably a staged rollout for the Apple File Provider API. I never got it until I used one of these builds that are one version number ahead.
Dropbox uses different release channels similar to Firefox and Chrome, and we can only opt-in to the beta channel via the "Early releases" toggle in the web app. Apparently, there is another "alpha" channel that only a few got in earlier this year, and we don't know at which pace they add new users.
So the new code is already in everyone's Dropbox client, but they haven't enabled it for all user accounts.

Additionally, using one of these upcoming alpha builds without having that entitlement on your account means the same thing as disabling that "Early releases" toggle: You won't receive any updates until the lower channel (stable or beta) catches up with that build number. So installing one of these alphas and then disabling that toggle could mean that you stay for weeks on the same build.

[adamtwar]

This Dropbox Beta is by far the worst “beta” product I’ve ever installed (and I’ve used many products in beta versions). I deeply regret having turned on the preference to install the pre-release versions. It’s not “beta”, it’s “alpha” at best. I installed it about a week ago, and it has completely wrecked my system. 

• After installation, my ~/Dropbox folder became a normal folder. FYI, the total size of my Dropbox files (both my own, and those shared with me) is 43.34 GB, so it’s not some crazy amount. 
• The app created a new ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox folder, into which it started to “put” all the files fresh from the cloud. There was no migration of the offline files, basically all data had to come from the cloud again. 
• All files in ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox were “online only” by default, and the app made no attempt to make them offline even though in the app’s Selective Sync preferences, all folders (and “Select all”) is turned on.
• For the last week, “fileproviderd” has been running at 99.9% CPU usage without interruption (except if I force-quit), and it’s effectively wrecking all my work: Finder is mostly unresponsive or hangs, the DMG images I mount don’t show up, and in most apps, File > Save As does not produce a Save As dialog (until I force-quit “fileproviderd”, but then it reappears).
• The small cloud status icons inside ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox sometimes appear and sometimes don’t, regardless of whether the Dropbox app is running.
• The app never attempted to make the files in the new location offline-available, so I had to click the cloud status icons one by one (then they changed the status to "downloading", or use the "Make available offline" context menu item (then the icons didn’t change the status). “fileproviderd” instantly went up to 99.9%. After leaving the machine for 12-18 hours alone, “fileproviderd” was still at 99.9%, and only some of the folders inside the new Dropbox location were downloaded (made offline).
• The Dropbox app status always says "Syncing...", no idea what and how. (View Sync issues shows no problems).
• After the machine restart, Dropbox sometimes attempts to continue "Syncing", and sometimes not. In some cases, the main folder inside the new Dropbox location shows the "Not downloaded" icon even though ALL folders inside are "downloaded". 
• Every other machine restart or so, the Dropbox app reports that it cannot connect, and my attempts to log in (using my Google profile) result in an infinite loop. Re-installing the Dropbox beta build helps with that. 
• FYI, I have a MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) with 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 and 64 GB of RAM, and the Speedtest app reports my internet connection to regularly have about 537 Mbit download and 39 Mbit upload speeds. At 60+ MB/sec, downloading 40 GB should take about 10 minutes, but the "syncing" process has so far taken 150 hours+ and it’s still not finished. 
• It is an absolute disaster. I cannot use the machine properly, it’s beyond ridiculous. I will most certainly be cancelling my and my company’s Dropbox subscription and looking for alternatives, and I will be advising anyone with a sane mind to run away from Dropbox screaming. 

[adamtwar]

Short-term, I’d love to get clear instructions how to uninstall this complete beta disaster and go back to the old “stable” method that uses the kernel extension. 

[adamtwar]

Actually, I went ahead and uninstalled the Dropbox app and libraries completely (using CleanMyMac). 

[Jimbob928]

Did it work successfully - I now have 2 versions of my dropbox on my computer and concerned about removing either of them.

App has been stuck at syncing for over 24 hrs

[adamtwar]

Well, I simply removed Dropbox from my Mac altogether. 

For the time being, I’ll keep the subscription (my personal one, and my company’s), and I’ll use https://cloudmounter.net/ to mount Dropbox as a virtual file system (which is slow but works), and will manually copy files. I do share files with my team via Dropbox but fortunately, it’s low-volume traffic — we typically update a few files a week there. We use Github for most work, and we’ve mostly used Dropbox to share larger files, with the convenience of quickly getting a public shareable link. 

But it looks to me that the new File Provider API-based Dropbox will be a disaster. Beta or not, I’m not talking about minor issues here — but the complete lack of usability. After having read all I could on this forum and in other places, Dropbox has also failed to adequately inform users about this change. There’s hardly any technical or in-depth information, just some platitudes. 

It looks to me that in the past few years, Dropbox has bloated their product palette with things I’ve never needed, but they failed to keep the quality of what I once thought was their core business (or used to be). The company had $2 billion in revenue and over $335 net income. Seems to be that they should have spent considerably more on developers to work on the Mac desktop integration — rather than publishing horrific beta versions long after Apple has released their macOS 12.3. I know Apple has been difficult, they don’t give developers enough notice in advance about the changes they will do in their OS — yet they’ve announced the move away from kernel extensions in 2019, that’s three years ago. 

I’ve asked my teammates to actively look for a different solution altogether, and I’ll be cancelling all our Dropbox subscriptions as soon as we’ve migrated the files to a new solution. 

[Dan B.51]

Adam,

Thanks for posting that. Same thing over here. There's more I want to add that I think can be constructive and/or helpful as well, and if the "but what's the **bleep**ing point" part of that thought goes away, maybe I even will. If not, I'm glad there's something clear and well-structured for me to co-sign.

[Dan B.51]

Let it be known now and for the rest of time that I didnt actually type "bleeping", I used a grownup word that they changed. Which is fine.

Full disclosure I have, however, been thinking of Michael Cera saying "samesies" in Superbad ever since I wrote  "co-sign."