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Dropbox Re-reading Issues on Macos

Dropbox on macOS is killing my workflow, and has been for quite some time. Bug: Every time I open a local (fully downloaded) file, Dropbox re-scans the entire thing to check for changes. Fine for tiny docs, but for my 200-400GB video files? It grinds my Mac to a halt in any media player. (No upload - just pointless re-reading.)

Windows? Zero issues. Anyone else battling this with large files? Workarounds?

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Hannah

Hi there, @gaurav_b, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

By re-reading are you referring to indexing? If you hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar when this happens, what do you see?

Can you also let us know which version of the Dropbox app you're using and what your exact macOS version is?

Thanks in advance.

gaurav_b

Hi! It says uploading when this happens, but it's just reading the file when we check using the activity monitor. This happens every time I open any video file even though it's offline. Currently the macos version is 13.4, but I have noticed the same thing on another mac which was on the latest version. The dropbox version is 233.4.4938

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @gaurav_b!

Hmm, that's pretty strange indeed; so if you were to simply hover over your Dropbox icon, without opening a file this time, will the sync status show as "up to date"? Or will it still show "uploading"?

If you could actually send us a screenshot of that, it would be really helpful!

gaurav_b

Exactly. If I just hover over it without opening a file, it says up to date. I'm attaching a screenshot of that.

Please note that it's like this for over a year, and my guess is people haven't noticed this because most of them aren't working with large files, which takes time to read.

Jay

Hi @gaurav_b, could you take a screen recording showing this behavior you're experiencing on your device? If this isn't possible a couple of screenshots showing the sync status change would help.

Could you try quitting the Dropbox desktop application entirely and then try opening the file to see if you experience any delay?

gaurav_b

Sure, I’ve recorded this behavior and attached [removed per the Community's Guidelines] You can see that the file is already offline, and simply opening it triggers syncing on Dropbox. You’ll notice the “uploading” icon on Dropbox, but it’s just reading the file, which you can see in the activity monitor.

Regarding your suggestion to quit the Dropbox app, I’ve tried that, as well as different macOS versions, different MacBooks, and different Dropbox accounts. I’ve enabled and disabled File Provider, but the behavior remains the same. The issue seems to be with the macOS version of the Dropbox app, and it’s been like this for over a year, but no one has taken any action to address it.

Walter

Thanks for the additional information and providing a screen-recording as well @gaurav_b

If you find that the issue persists with the latest stable version of the Dropbox desktop app from this page, you can try performing a clean, advanced reinstall.

In case you get the same results afterwards, you can contact our support team to troubleshoot further with account and device specific information.

Let us know of any updates anyhow.

gaurav_b

I have done the clean install as well. Not just that, I have also reset the macos to see if it makes any difference. What you guys don't seem to get is, this behavior is on every mac. Just check on your Dropbox account if you have any mac.

Walter

I see, thanks for the clarification @gaurav_b - I can see that you've already contacted our support team about this, so I passed your comments on to the agent who's looking into this for you.

They'll be getting back to you soon with next steps, but please let me know if you have anything else to add.