Newly uploaded files not sorted correctly

[Ilkuul]

I have just uploaded 11 new files to a Dropbox folder, and they seem to be stuck at the top of the list: they are not sorting alphabetically with the rest of the files.

I have tried changing the sort order (the arrow beside the "Name" heading), and that makes no difference. I've refreshed the page, closed and reopened it, closed and reopened the browser—no difference. I tried a different browser: same error. Thinking it might be a something to do with the operating system (I use a Mac), I opened the same Dropbox page in Windows. Same error—shown in the attached screenshot.

Can anyone help?

[Rich · Accepted solution]

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@Ilkuul wrote:

I have just uploaded 11 new files to a Dropbox folder, and they seem to be stuck at the top of the list: they are not sorting alphabetically with the rest of the files.

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Best guess, the files have a whitespace character at the beginning of each filename. In the screenshot below, the Test.txt file has a non-breaking space at the beginning of the name, so it sorts to the top of the list.

[Ilkuul]

That was it! The last thing I would have guessed, but you spotted it. I used a bulk renamer to strip prefixes off those filenames, and it left the following space behind. Many thanks!

[TheKeel]

So how do you get rid of it?

[TheKeel]

Not having that exact issue but have been having other issues with Dropbox sorting. Files no longer sort alphabetically, either ascending or descending. They appear somewhat alphabetical with random non-alphabetical files interspersed in the list. Some problem with sorting by date. Makes it very difficult to find specific files and dedicated groups of files. This has been reported by dozens of users in the community and no one has addressed it. I believe the issue began within the past year. A big problem making Dropbox very annoying to use.

[Merged into this thread by Moderator]

[Rich]

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@TheKeel wrote:

So how do you get rid of it?

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Rename the file and if the first character is a space, delete it.