Dropbox folder in File Explorer in Windows 11 is painfully slow

[jaymeetee]

I recently 'upgraded' to Windows 11 and the new File Explorer is now painfully slow when navigating the Dropbox folder. Simply navigating the hierarchy takes seconds and the Windows busy ring appears twice for each click.

I have tried:

- reinstalling Dropbox (currently 139.3.4798)

- enabling Smart Sync (this will likely save me disk space but seems not to affect performance)

- uninstalling any other software that interacts with the Windows context menu (WinZip etc)

- restoring the Windows 10 File Explorer (which changed the GUI) but not the speed

- running Windows File explorer full screen (F11) a common recommendation that does not improve performance

I am running Win 11 Pro on a decent enough 8th gen Core i7 with 16GB RAM that coped just fine under Windows 10, I have 346443 files on my DB. the issue is limited to the Dropbox folder which is why I'm here and not on the MS forum.

Any help gratefully received!

[jaymeetee]

It's been over a week now an, perhaps unsurprisingly, Microsoft have not responded. Just checking in to let you know I'm still on this but since this seems to be a minority issue (there don't seem to be many of us complaining about it) I'm beginning to wonder whether a clean install of Windows might fix the issue.

[jlinck]

I'm not in the camp that this is a windows 11 problem. I had the EXACT same problem while I was running Windows 10. Loading files in explorer is painfully slow (and often they don't load at all). Indeed, my updated to 11 was partially to see if it would fix the dropbox problem. It didn't. I can also report that all my other cloud services work perfectly. Box, OneDrive, for example. It's only dropbox that isn't working. So I think it's a dropbox issue. My issue is on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, and I've tried virtually every workaround I found in this community and elsewhere.

[jaymeetee]

Good news everybody! Microsoft appear to have fixed this issue. I updated my Windows 11 machine with January 25, 2022—KB5008353 (OS Build 22000.469) Preview this morning (a recommended update on the regular user stream - not the insider program). This update (which took a while) seems to have addressed the File Explorer performance issue which is now an order of magnitude snappier. Sure enough the description includes the following text "Addresses some issues that affect File Explorer’s performance when you browse for files and select files." So I think we're there 🙂

[Tom01]

Hey, the update did not resolve my issue.

I spent about 4 hrs with Windows support recently and they said it was a bug. 

So I guess I will wait and see for future updates.

[jlinck]

It didn't do it for me either. I'm still convinced it's at least partially a Dropbox problem, and I have been working with them to no avail. I offer something else on my particular case in case it applies to any of you (which I recently shared with my Dropbox ticket)... I have two accounts on my Surface Laptop 3, both are administrators. The other account was set up first, and dropbox installed first (on a different account). Mine was set up later as an administrator and also because I have deinstalled and reinstalled Dropbox many times in the debugging process. In any event, Dropbox does NOT have the crazy slow problem on the other account. It works just fine. Only on mine. So I find that too much of a coincidence. As I shared earlier, i've tried everything I found here and elsewhere to no avail, but Dropbox is investigating this new angle. Also, the Dropbox Windows S mode app works perfectly on my account, and all other cloud services work perfectly (OneDrive, Box).

[jaymeetee]

It seems some users are still having lag issues despite Microsoft's recent KB5008353 update. My guess is the lag is caused by a number of different factors, judging by Microsoft's description of the update "Addresses some issues that affect File Explorer’s performance when you browse for files and select files." (emphasis mine). I have removed the solution flag from my previous post to keep this issue open in the hopes that someone else may have a solution.

[Tom01]

So I continue you have the slow lag issue when using dropbox, onedrive and MS teams in the windows 11 explorer.

But I have noticed if I am printing a PDF and navigate to any of these online services folders the lag disappears and it goes back to normal speed in the 'save as pdf' explorer. 

This makes me think its 100% a windows issue with the win11 update.

Would great to see if anyone else is having this issue that temporarily fixes itself in the save as explorer window. 

[jlinck]

Not for me. OneDrive, Box just fine. Only issues is in Dropbox. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11

[kfn]

FWIW, I am having the same problem, only on my new laptop with Windows 11. I have two other laptops running everything else the same, except on Windows 10, and they are fine. No problems with One Drive, just Dropbox in File Explorer. Guess I'll report to MS as well!

[jlinck]

My issue went away. No idea why. I didn't use dropbox for about a week (used the Dropbox Windows App, which is ok, but not all the functionality I need). Then one day it just started working. No updates came in, no notes from dropbox. Mystery to me.