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Dropbox syncing status is stuck "indexing" files on my MacOS after File Provider update.

Looks like my Dropbox sync takes forever, and it is just stuck at the "Indexing xxxx files" step. Every time I restart Dropbox, the number changes slightly, but then it stays like that for days. I tried fixing hard links in the accounts settings, but it did not help. I also tried fixing permissions, but it failed with a message of "Dropbox was unable to fix permissions in your Dropbox. Please contact support if the problem persists." I also checked basic permissions in terminal and it seems to be ok. I updated Dropbox to the latest version. There is enough storage, firewall is not the issue, and Dropbox has full disk access. I have no other ideas.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

OS: macOS Monterey 12.7.4

Dropbox version: v202.4.5551

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Comments

maher1982

Hi, It sounds like you've tried many common troubleshooting steps already, but did you try to clear the Dropbox Cache? Sometimes, clearing the Dropbox cache can resolve syncing issues.

drozsas

Thanks, just checked, and there is no hidden .dropbox.cache folder inside the Dropbox folder. I think this cache folder does not exist anymore, as Dropbox is using the File Provider API now.

Megan

Hey @drozsas, thanks for posting here!

How long has this been happening for?

Also, do you happen to know approximately how many files exist locally within your Dropbox folder? If you check the "Get Info" of the folder, you should be able to find this.

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

drozsas

This seems to be going on for at least a few weeks. While trying to get the number of files, I noticed one more thing. All of the folders inside Dropbox, except one, seem to be cloud only now (cloud icon with a down arrow). "Get Info" does not return anything. So it looks like Dropbox is trying to index files that are not actually downloaded yet?

There should be around ~40k files in the Dropbox folder and using ~240Gb storage.

Megan

Hi @drozsas, thanks for the info!

If you click on the small Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then, select "Sync history”, are you seeing something more?

Try to also make sure that all other apps are closed and that there's no antivirus, VPN etc. running, and then start the Dropbox app again.

It might be worth checking out the troubleshooting steps outlined in this article. If you notice that this doesn't improve things, let me know.