Sync icons missing in the Dropbox folder in Finder

[weiskott]

I recently had a new work desktop (Mac) deployed. While all my downloaded Dropbox files were successfully transferred, there are now no sync icons next to Dropbox files in Finder. I have never had this issue before. The files are showing up as synced in the taskbar and online and across devices, but there are no green check icons in Finder.

Published solutions to this problem (uninstall / reinstall Dropbox; restart computer; force-quit Finder; check that OneDrive or other overlay programs are not running) have not worked for me. Help?? Programs running are Google Chrome and Microsoft Word. MacOS Monterey 12.3.1 / Dropbox v147.4.4800. I have the Basic plan.

[Hannah]

Thanks for that, @Peleela.

You never mentioned it, but I assume you've also restarted your computer, right?

If you haven't, please do and let us know if that makes any difference.

[Peleela]

Hi Hannah,

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I have rebooted my system. But just to be certain, I did so again. I have rebooted my computer, made sure that I had no other programs or non-Apple utilities running, started Dropbox - waited for it to start and state that everything is in sync. And I do not see the Dropbox icons nor the Dropbox Quick Actions. And then, Dropbox crashes after about 2 minutes.

I am wondering if there is a proper way to start from scratch. Could I delete everything from my computer and then try to get Dropbox to sync from scratch? Might that be the next step?

[Hannah]

Thanks for the update here, @Peleela and sorry for the delay.

I'd like you to try a more advanced reinstall of the Dropbox app, to see if that does the trick.

Please save and quit all programs accessing files in the Dropbox folder, and then follow these instructions:

Note: Please be sure to take note or take a screenshot of any Selective Sync settings you may have applied as well as the location of your Dropbox folder (if not in the default location) prior to re-installing, as you will need to match these settings upon re-install.

1) Stop Dropbox (If needed).

2) Download the newest version.

3) Open your Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)

4) Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal, one at a time, and press ENTER after each one. Please make sure you copy and paste these commands (don't type them by hand), as getting them wrong could cause some harm. 

You'll be prompted for your computer's admin password (not your Dropbox password) after entering the first command. Keep in mind that the password field in the terminal will remain blank as you type your password. 

After you type it, just press ENTER. You'll know that these instructions complete normally once the initial line of text (called prompt) comes up again. 

Before pasting them, you will need to alter the commands, depending on the path and name of your Dropbox folder. For example this command:

sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox

will become:

sudo chmod -R u+rw "/Users/yourusername/Dropbox" (make sure you use the quotation marks too):

sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"

sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox

sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox

sudo mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old

sudo chmod -N ~

sudo mv /Library/DropboxHelperTools ~/DropboxHelperTools.old

Please note that once the prompt displays, the instruction completes the requested task and is ready for the next command. If the command returns an error or does not respond after an hour, you may want to try restarting your computer and try these steps again.

5) Delete the Dropbox application from the Applications folder. You may need to provide your computer password in order to perform this action.

6) Open the .dmg file from step # 2 and double click the Dropbox icon to install Dropbox.

7) When Dropbox has finished installing, during the initial setup and sign in process, apply any Selective Sync settings you may have had prior to the reinstall and select the Dropbox folder location (if not in the default location).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this process removes the previous settings and configuration, if you wish to avoid re-downloading your Dropbox content, you will need to manually choose the location for Dropbox to sync to, otherwise you will create a new Dropbox folder which will start to download your content again.

To select your already established folder on your drive, after signing in and choosing which folders to sync, and before you click on "Open my Dropbox folder", you should see an "Advanced Settings" link, click on this.

Then you can choose the parent folder of the already established Dropbox folder. For example, if you have your Dropbox folder in the path "/Volumes/DifferentPlace/Dropbox (Team)" you'll want to select the folder "/Volumes/DifferentPlace/".

At the end of this process, after clicking "Open my Dropbox folder", it might take some time to re-index the files and sync any pending changes.

Let me know how it goes!

[Peleela]

@Hannah,

Thank you! Dropbox is no longer crashing, and I believe everything is finally back in sync (it will take awhile for my Teams files to complete). These were just the steps I needed to know to do a complete re-install, thank you so much!!

There were just two things you (or anyone else reading this thread) may want to know:

1. I waited for Dropbox to be in sync, and then I needed to Force Quit the Finder. Once I did that, all of my sync icons and the Dropbox Quick Actions indeed came back.

2. I actually have Dropbox Personal as well as Dropbox Teams. During the re-install, I was able to choose my current already established "personal" Dropbox folder without any issues. But when it came to selecting my already established "teams" Dropbox folder, I ran into an error. It said a folder with that name already existed, and I was either able to rename my "new" Teams folder or select another destination. I chose to just delete my Teams folder and let it sync from scratch, which resolved the error message. [I followed your instructions and deleted the configuration file from both my personal and my teams Dropbox folders.]

[Hannah]

Thanks for keeping me in the loop. @Peleela!

I'm happy to see that you were able to resolve the issue and that your Dropbox application works correctly now.

If you come across any other issues, or if you have any questions, let us know.

Have a great day!

[radmitry]

Hi, I am having same issue after upgrading to Mac OS Ventura. If my Google Drive app is running, I don't see file statuses in my Dropbox folder

Right click menu shows dropbox actions, however file status if its downloading, offline or online is not showing.

I tried unticking and ticking back all of the dropbox extensions in Finder, relaunching Finder and restarting my computer, and I still don't see any file statuses.

As soon as I quit G Drive, it's all working again.

I had this issue long time ago in Catalina but then if got fixed. 

Somehow Dropbox and Google Drive don't like each other. What will happen if I install OneDrive as well ...😀

[Jay]

Hi @radmitry, this issue may be related to other applications on your computer that also use the icon overlay and context menu functionality of Mac OS, to which there may be a limit.

[radmitry]

@Jay Well, this is obviously a software glitch either Dropbox or Mac OS, I used to have the same in Mac OS Catalina, but then it got fixed with the update, and I was able to use G Drive and Dropbox at the same time, while seeing the file status in both.

[radmitry]

Honestly this sounds like an excuse for me. They were working fine together in Catalina, why not Ventura then? There was a time with the same issue in Catalina in Google Drive, but later Google fixed it and both DP and GD were working together and showing the file status in Finder. It's kinda annoying to disable either one of them to see if my file is uploaded.

[Bluebiycle]

Hi This solution has fixed it for me so far. Missing Icons is a big source of aggravation for us, as it's literally like driving a car in the dark with no headlights, as you can't see what is synced. If it is the case that other 3rd parties' extensions are universally causing a clash, leading to this problem could this be disseminated by Dropbox more widely? We have spent months fiddling around restarting Macs and the Apps, toggling preferences, to get this to work.