Dropbox Finder Extension on Mac Resource Consumption

[dropitoverthere]

Since upgrading to Big Sur, I have started noticing Dropbox Finder Extension occasionally spawning multiple instances and consuming tons of resources.  This ends up causing my mac to become unresponsive.  It seems like this is a bug, and I would love to know the best path to submit a bug report.

[Lusil]

Hi there @dropitoverthere, thanks for reaching out to us about this. 

Could you send us a screenshot of what you're seeing? 

Have you noticed this happening at a specific point in time, for example, when you open files from your Dropbox folder?

Let me know and we'll go from there, cheers!

[dropitoverthere]

@lusil You can see the multiple DFE (Dropbox Finder Extension) processes being spawned.  They seem to keep multiplying.  My best guess is when I use the save dialog in Firefox maybe that is when they start being spawned.

[redseb]

The same on my machine. iMac (Retina 5K, 27 Zoll, 2019) with Big Sur 11.2.1 and Dropbox v115.4.601.

Additionally after a sleep/wake cycle the Finder-Integration disappears.

Reinstalling DB, fixing permissions etc. Did not work.

[Lusil]

Thanks for letting me know, @dropitoverthere, and thanks for joining us on this thread, @redseb!

Could you confirm if you installed the desktop app with admin privileges?

[redseb]

Yes. I installed it with admin privileges. All accounts on this machine, are admin accounts.

[Lusil]

Could you let me know at which point in time you notice this behavior?

Do you also find that the desktop app has a high CPU usage during this?

[redseb]

Hi @Lusil,

since it's random, I can't replicate it reliably, but it most often happens after the mac went to sleep.

The Multiple Finder Integration instances are happening all the time, also while the integration still works.

See here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq5ycg83pbvjb1g/Bildschirmfoto%202021-02-15%20um%2021.28.02.png?dl=0

Best,

Sebastian

[dropitoverthere]

@Lusil I will need to check whether CPU usage has been affected on the next occurrence.  I did install using admin privileges.  

My best guess is when I use the save dialog in Firefox maybe that is when they start being spawned.

[dropitoverthere]

@Lusil DFE does not appear to be a high consumer of CPU when the processes multiply.  Although, they do have a very noticeable impact of causing the mouse pointer to change to the spinning color wheel while the system is unresponsive.  It's possible CPU is high at this point, but it's something that is difficult to observe or measure given the lack of responsiveness.