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Desktop app is slow when starting up, and slows down the computer while doing so

Why does it take so long to start up dropbox? While it's starting up, other programs are very slow, almost unresponsive. It takes over 20 minutes to show starting/syncing completed. I have 16gb ram, window 7. The start up speed is critical during such time as trying to use the computer to print items for meeting and it freezes up because dropbox is starting and you cannot even stop it from starting, of course there's the option of exiting.

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Accepted answers

Jane

Hey @dchassin,

Welcome to the Dropbox Community, let's look into that together!

Please keep in mind that the Dropbox application needs to perform a quick reindex whenever it is restarted or paused/resumed to check if any files changed since the client was last run. A good initial step to improve the syncing performance would be to reduce the overall load of the client, by enabling Selective Sync.

Moreover, you could manually customize your bandwidth settings, that'll probably help you speed things up.

Because you've mentioned that you need your files for work though, let me suggest raising a ticket with our team, so that we check your configuration and determine the cause. Once you do, please let me know a ticket ID in your reply here, so that I look it up on my end. This way, we'll able to send you the relevant steps to improve performance.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation, looking forward to hearing back from you,

JaneA

[This thread is now closed. If you have a similar or new question, you could post it in the Find Answers section here. Jane]

All comments

Quang N.3

Sure, do you have any suggestions?

Cesareo R.

I´m having the same issue on a 2012 iMac with 32 GB of RAM running Yosemite. ¿Is there a way to fix this?

Paul B.20

Hi Guys,

Think I am having a similar issue.

When dropbox is running, it slows my windows explorer response times down for any activity done within the dropbox folder on my machine.

by this, I mean that when dropbox is exited. I can click create on the new folder icon multiple times per second.

when dropbox is running, I click the create new folder. dropbox seems to think about what I am doing for about 5 seconds before refreshing the folder and enabling the create new folder button again.

have you guys experienced this?

did you get answers to your problem?

Jacqueline W.

Same issue here on a Macbook Pro, running Yosemite. Syncing/indexing is painfully slow and, while it is 'starting up,' other programs are very slow, almost unresponsive. This latest version of Dropbox appears to be hogging the computer, and taking an inordinate amount of time while it is at it. Given the number of slow syncing posts in this forum, is it a bug with the latest version of Dropbox? If so, when will it be fixed?

Carsten N.1

Same problem here on ALL the computers in our company. We now consider to cancel all our subscriptions and stop using Dropbox in our company, as dropbox slows down everything. It is a really big problem. Dropbox is using to many resources on the computers, Especially the hard disks are constantly working when Dropbox is started. It really causes problem. It takes up to 35 minutes - on the company computers, to start dropbox and download the filelist. Also the new functions like dropbox badge is extremely annoying, and we still ned the posibility to desiable alle these annoying features on admin level.

Paul B.20

Where is the dropbox support staff. I see only customers responding on this issue.

I was considering the team option for the office, but quite honestly, if I am struggling, makes no sense to make the whole company struggle too.

Carsten N.1

Still no answer from support. :-(

We need a solution asap. !

Ben W.12

Same here. Windows 7 - dropbox indexing takes 10-20min on boot and really slows everything down. Even if 1 to 2 files change. Computer picks up just fine after dropbox finishes.

Yvon K.

Same problem here! On Imac 2012 with OS Yosemite 10.10.4. Where is Dropbox support staff?

Carsten N.1

It seems that Dropbox support - ignore this serious problem. We are using dropbox buisness on all computers in our company, and this problem occurs on all the computers. If the problem is not solved in a month, we would cancel all our accounts, and switch to another cloud service. We are already testing some other cloud services, that until now seems to work properly, and also is cheaper..

The problem cost us a lot of money, because we can not use our computers - in the first 30 minutes, after they have been started. Because of the problem, we have been forced to uninstall the program from all our external laptops etc. - used by sales people. The sales people can not wait 30 minutes, when they are visiting customers.

Ann A.

The Macintosh computers in our design office take approx 30-40 mins every morning for Dropbox to startup, regardless of wether there's been activity overnight or not. We are running El Capitan with the latest version of Dropbox. The Dropbox icon displays the 'Starting...' message and the whole system slows while Dropbox does whatever it is doing. I have a 1TB Dropbox and it's about 20% full. The start up time has progressively been getting longer to the point where we're facing 40mins of downtime every morning.

Any suggestions on how we can speed this up? This is a major problem for us and costing us money.

Jonathan L.27

I am having the same issue. On my laptop, which is running Win10 and really runs nothing at startup other than the basic Windows utilities, it takes upwards of 40 minutes just to get past the "Starting..." phase. Then there's the "Downloading file list" phase, which can take another 15-20 minutes. I have a lot of stuff in my Dropbox folder (about 150 GB), but that shouldn't affect the startup time and it should have a minimal effect at best on the time it takes to download an index of files, especially when I haven't made any changes between boot-ups! Same problem existed in Win8 before I upgraded. This is ridiculous! What the hell am I paying for?! Oh, and of course no one at Dropbox says anything. Worst customer service I've encountered in a long time. Maybe put them in the same category as Dell.

James O.11

also having same issue, very long "starting" and computer pretty much unresponsive in the meantime. 10% of 1Tb DB used, on a 2012 iMac everything up to date. Would be good to see an answer from Dropbox here. Due to problems with other software (Adobe Creative Cloud) crashing on start, I seem to be doing a lot of restarts lately and the Dropbox starting time is really bugging me.

Carsten N.3

It seems that Dropbox will not solve this problem, or answer the many users who have this problem.
Poor customerservice. :-(
I cannot recommend dropbox to any professional users.

John N.19

Not sure why, but dropbox.com is as slow as an 8086 processor and it is significantly impacting our use. Takes 30 seconds + to move between displayed photos and I wait and wait for the opportunity to add a comment in order to collaborate with colleagues. Has Dropbox decided it's too big to fail?

James H.63

Same here - Macbook Pro with extra memory and no bandwidth issues. Its a little disheartening to see that Dropbox support has pretty much ignored this issue. It does have my team looking for alternate solution because this really is bovine feces.

Admin 1.1

Experiencing the exact same problems! It's unacceptable in the business world and needs to be addressed ASAP. What are some other cloud systems you guys recommend?

Yuri O.2

I have the same problem, mostly because my HDD is encrypted and it takes a lot of effort from Dropbox to uncrypt and hash the files to sync.
The best solution I found at the moment is to set Dropbox process as low priority: https://www.nixtutor.com/linux/changing-priority-on-linux-processes/

Fabio G.2

I have the same problem here and still no response by the Dropbox support.

d b.10

Is there a way to just use Dropbox on-demand?

Mark

Fabio - this is a user supported forum. For a response you need to log a ticket at www.dropbox.com/support

DB - Use the Dropbox website:

www.dropbox.com/home

Dillan Z.

Here is my answer...It might not be correct but: It is making sure that everything that is important on your computer(photos, videos, etc.) are all backed up, so if you get something like ransomware, it is safe in sound in your dropbox.

Sandro R.

I have the same problem "too slow startup". Has anyone found a solution?

James R.34

Same issue here. 15-20 minutes before it finally starts syncing. Just says Dropbox is starting... I have a new Razer Blade, 16gb of ram, 512GB SSD and a quad core hyper threaded i7. So I have plenty of performance, but even with that dropbox is using about 25% of CPU and 25% of ram on start up for about 20 minutes. Kind of ridiculous this thread has been open for over a year and Dropbox has yet to respond.

James R.34

And I understand this is community forums... But come on, at least have a few Dropbox admins roaming on here to look for suggestions, feedback etc...

Michael M.99

What a mess. Dropbox is at the end of its rope before its IPO. Too much of nothing to offer. 40 Minutes and more for connection and syncing for a small business.

Aghay-e Aarashe-e Ferdousi. You do something before your company is buried and remembered as a company that initially had something to offer.

Michael M.99

We use only 1.4% of 1 Terra Bite Storage Capacity on your Data Warehouse. I hate to think how your larger global clients suffer.

Knock Knock. Is there anybody out there.

Paul B.20

Hi Everyone out there.

I have been watching this post for a long time.

You will never get a response from Dropbox. So if you waiting for any, dont hold your breath.

Its been exceptionally poor from their side and you wont even get the time of day for any and all comments.

Luciano R.

I'm having the same problem

Ricardo H.1