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Search not working - no result, but the folder is there.

Hello all,
Just today I was using DB as normal, and attempted to find a folder for a particular job. We use a a number system to identify folders like "20-240" where 20 is the year, and 240 is the 240th job worked on.
I was surprised though that when I used the search function to try and find 20-240, it showed as having no results.
I manually went into my co-workers dropbox folder, and sure enough it was there, just that the search returned no results.
(It did find other years in the search such as 09-240).
I mentioned it to my co-worker and he searched as well and it also came up with zero results on his end.
He said that just this morning, he was searching for something else and had trouble finding it as well.
I attempted a few other random numbers and discovered that 20-239 was also not showing in the search results.
I searched the community thread, and found a similar problem from (I think 2015) where someone recommended trying a different browser (I am using Chrome, and also tried Firefox) with the same negative results.
We are a group of about 3 people using mac's (I'm on an older imac, but my co-worker is using a fairly new system with all the lateste system updates).
Can anyone advise? This has the potential to be a HUGE problem if the search is not working 100%.
Thanks
Note: I usually use the web-based dropbox, but I also searched using my desktop app and it also did not find the folder.
I'm currently using v96.4.172 of the desktop app in my menu bar.
I'm running an older system software of 10.11.6 - but as mentioned, my co-worker is using an updated current OSx.

Oh and I did a search for the specific filename inside of that 20-240 folder, and it DID find that in the search results.

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Daphne

Hi @JefW, I hope you're having a good day so far!

Since you've already tried this with another web browser, would you mind letting me know if you have the same behaviour when you're using an incognito window? Can you also try clearing your browser cache to see if that helps?

If the issue persists, could you send me a screenshot of what you see when searching for a particular folder name?

For searching in the desktop app, are the files that you're searching for synced locally on your computer or "online only" with Smart Sync?

Let me know and we can go from there!

JefW

Thank you for a response Daphne,

cleared browser cache (as I mentioned I attempted with two different browsers, one had never logged onto dropbox before), as well as my co-worker on a different computer had the same issue), and attempted the incognito approach, both with the same negative results in that the search did not work.

The files searched for are not using the "smart sync" and are not on my local computer (they reside on my co-workers local computer (and synched to dropbox).

Hope this helps to troubleshoot the problem.
Thanks for your time.

edit - I'm not sure how I should send you a screenshot, did you mean to post it here in this thread?
I'll attempt to do that (note I blocked out our user name).
Screen Shot 2020-05-12 at 11.22.46 AM.png

Daphne

Thanks for getting back to me here @JefW!

Was this screenshot taken when searching from your desktop app, or from your coworkers computer? If the files are not synced to your desktop then they wouldn't appear in the results when searching through the desktop app.

Would you mind sending me another screenshot of what you see when searching on the website? It's definitely good practice to exclude any personal info from the screenshot too like you did in your last post, so thanks for taking the time to do that!

JefW

Hi Daphne,
Yes, that search was via my desktop app (Like you asked).
This screenshot is when I used the web based search function.

(note: I had to move and work on the original missing folder from when I started this question thread... the 20-240... but I know the same problem is also associated with the 20-239, so I'm showing you the results of that search, which also failed to find the proper folder). Again, when I go into my co-workers folder, I can clearly see the 20-239 is there, but it will not show in the search results.

Also of note, and might help with the troubleshooting... when I moved that folder yesterday 20-240 to my system to work on it, it seems to have fixed the issue (I have another co-worker (there are 3 of us in total), and his search worked when I moved the folder to my system).

I've contacted my other co-worker and have asked him if his files are all currently synched, and am awaiting his reply.

screenshot attached is from the web search.
Screen Shot 2020-05-13 at 11.26.44 AM.png

Daphne

Thanks for that @JefW, apologies if I wasn't clear initially that the screenshot that I was referring to was for the website.

It's rather strange though that you were only able to search the folder online when you synced the folder locally.

I'd suggest to reach out to our Support team so that they can have a better look into this with you since I wasn't able to replicate this myself. You can reach out to them with the options here.

Once you do, you'll receive a ticket number (eg. #1234567) which you can let me know and I can pass along all the info you kindly provided here already.

Thanks!

JefW

Thank you Daphne for your efforts.