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Dropbox Finder Extension on Mac Resource Consumption

Since upgrading to Big Sur, I have started noticing Dropbox Finder Extension occasionally spawning multiple instances and consuming tons of resources. This ends up causing my mac to become unresponsive. It seems like this is a bug, and I would love to know the best path to submit a bug report.

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Lusil

Hi there @dropitoverthere, thanks for reaching out to us about this.

Could you send us a screenshot of what you're seeing?

Have you noticed this happening at a specific point in time, for example, when you open files from your Dropbox folder?

Let me know and we'll go from there, cheers!

dropitoverthere

@lusil You can see the multiple DFE (Dropbox Finder Extension) processes being spawned. They seem to keep multiplying. My best guess is when I use the save dialog in Firefox maybe that is when they start being spawned.

Dropbox Finder Extension Spawning and Consuming Resources.jpg

redseb

The same on my machine. iMac (Retina 5K, 27 Zoll, 2019) with Big Sur 11.2.1 and Dropbox v115.4.601.

Additionally after a sleep/wake cycle the Finder-Integration disappears.

Reinstalling DB, fixing permissions etc. Did not work.

Lusil

Thanks for letting me know, @dropitoverthere, and thanks for joining us on this thread, @redseb!

Could you confirm if you installed the desktop app with admin privileges?

redseb

Yes. I installed it with admin privileges. All accounts on this machine, are admin accounts.

Lusil

Could you let me know at which point in time you notice this behavior?

Do you also find that the desktop app has a high CPU usage during this?

redseb

Hi @Lusil,

since it's random, I can't replicate it reliably, but it most often happens after the mac went to sleep.

The Multiple Finder Integration instances are happening all the time, also while the integration still works.

See here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq5ycg83pbvjb1g/Bildschirmfoto%202021-02-15%20um%2021.28.02.png?dl=0

Best,

Sebastian

dropitoverthere

@Lusil I will need to check whether CPU usage has been affected on the next occurrence. I did install using admin privileges.

My best guess is when I use the save dialog in Firefox maybe that is when they start being spawned.

dropitoverthere

DFE CPU Usage.jpg

@Lusil DFE does not appear to be a high consumer of CPU when the processes multiply. Although, they do have a very noticeable impact of causing the mouse pointer to change to the spinning color wheel while the system is unresponsive. It's possible CPU is high at this point, but it's something that is difficult to observe or measure given the lack of responsiveness.

Lusil

Could you have a look at this article, which mentions a few ways to tackle high CPU usage, and let me know if any of the troubleshooting suggested helps?

LHM1

I have too many Dropbox Finder Extensions too (though not as many as the other user). I have read the article Lusil posted and none of those situations apply to me. I have just installed Dropbox on a new MacBook Air, M1 chip, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, Running Version 11.4 of Mac Big Slur. Why are there so many Finger Extensions? Most of my Dropbox files are online, I just have about 700 files synced locally.

Screen Shot 2021-06-09 at 10.05.43 am.png

Jay

Hi @LorraineM, if you're not on a Dropbox Basic plan with more than 3 devices connected, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?

LHM1

Hello Jay, thanks for your quick reply. I'm on Dropbox Plus. I do have 4 devices connected: iMac, Macbook (new), iPad and iPhone. Also, just to reiterate, I did a brand new install on a brand new computer. Knowing this, do you still suggest I do an advanced reinstall? How could anything have gone wrong in such a new configuration? Just wondering. Thanks.

Jay

Since you're on a Plus plan, there isn't any issue with device limits.

An advanced re-installation with admin permissions would still be helpful, even if it's a new computer.

Keep me updated with any progress!

marksc111

Dear Dropbox,

I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of complainers. This endless spawning of 'Dropbox Finder Extension' processes has been an issue for at least 2 years, so I find it hard to believe this is this first you've heard of it. Please don't act all surprised. It occurs EVERY DAY I use my Mac, and your team won't have to go through a specific set of steps to reproduce the issue, i'm positive of that, because this bug is not one of those hard-to-find edge cases—these steadily-multiplying resource-sucking processes start spawning almost immediately after logging in. Just use your Mac for a couple of hours, then type 'drop' into the Activity Monitor search box and prepare to be horrified at your terrible software spreading like a cancer.

Please don't pretend this issue is new. It's not. How this bug, which eats hardware resources and makes our Macs run slower and hotter, can be left to fester for over 2 years, is beyond me. Dropbox used to make good software ~10 years ago (at least on the Mac), but that was a long time ago and how things change. I'm not blaming your Mac dev team, they're clearly under-resourced, weighed down by having to work on things like the awful desktop app I never wanted and will never use, and the other ill-advised projects stealing development resources as DP desprerately tries to diversify (whereas if you put those resources into making your core product better, I'm talking best in class, and stop it with that other nonsense that no-one cares about, I'm sure you'd get a lot more marketshare.) DP management has neglected its core product, which was, once upon a time, the most reliable and easiest-to-use file sharing service. It's such a pity.

FYI I'm running DP on an 8 core Intel Xeon iMac Pro with 32gb RAM on the latest OS. If I didn't need your awful software to do my job, I'd uninstall it right now. Get your house in order!

boxerdropper

Similar issues here, although happening much earlier than Big Sur: the CPU load can be high at times even though no syncing is taking place. On two MacBook Pros, one running Mojave 10.14.6 and one running Catalina 10.15.7, I regularly have 4-5 DFE processes running, and this even after quitting the Dropbox app. Their cumulated RAM usage is not negligible.

Wvp

I agree, the multiple finder extension also happened on my machines. The nr. 1 fix for every problem is always "Advanced re-install", but it does not fix this, it also does not fix high memory usage. Just look a the posted screenshot in this topic.. Dropbox uses 1030MB of memory for a system with 700 files stored locally and probably doing nothing at that time.

Although.. for an application that uses embedded Chromium it does not seem that strange it uses a lot of resources. When running Dropbox you are essentially running a small Chrome Browsers session just for the UI.. 😉

PassTheSalt

It's been over a month since anyone posted in this thread and I, too, am having this issue on a MBP that less than a year old. Crazy that DB has abandoned it. <tsk><tsk><tsk> What's a better alternative? A nephew worked for Box for a while, and I think I still have that account. And there's Google. Is there another other there? (DP, feel free to chime in on your better competitors.

chefrogi

for what it's worth, I'm getting the same multiple spawned processes issue with Google Backup and Sync and OneDrive finder integration.

chefrogi

I have the same issue with Google Drive's "backup & sync" and OneNote Finder Integration.

It's not clear to me that these are the process causing me issues. The issue I'm trying to solve is my Mac gets really laggy when trying to change volume/brightness. The increase/decrease animations for both lag far behind the button clicks.

Wvp

I think every finder window or (open/save) window spawns a new Finder extension instance. Maybe these are not always cleaned up automatically?

ncole

Same here... and it's consistent. Even when I deactivate / pause DropBox. My thoughts, and it may be farfetched, but could the issue possibly be that Dropbox, as well as similar online storage apps, continually peruses our computers? I also, continually receive random messages, asking if I want to save a file to Dropbox... And they are files that Dropbox should have no access to.

Any ideas?

pk_dragon

Dropbox Finder Extension spawning multiple processes in Activity Monitor is a normal and expected behavior of Finder Sync Extensions in macOS.

Nothing to do with Dropbox, really. All Finder Sync Extensions (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Creative Cloud, etc.) will all run multiple copies of the process as directed by Finder and macOS. The app itself can't stop that behavior.

Apple documentation:

Performance Concerns

Finder Sync extensions may have a much longer lifespan than most other extensions. Because of this long lifespan, you must take particular care to avoid any possible performance issues. Ideally, Finder Sync extensions should spend most of their time running but idle. Limit the number of resources the extension consumes. Most important, be sure to avoid leaking any resources. Over time, even a small trickle can grow into a serious problem.

The system may also launch additional copies of your extension whenever an Open or Save dialog is displayed. This means that the user may have multiple copies of your extension running at once, and some may be very short lived. Therefore, it’s generally best if the extension focuses on handling the badges, contextual menus, and toolbar buttons. Place in a separate service (a Login Item or Launch Agent) any code that performs the sync, updates state, or communicates with remote data sources. This approach ensures that there is only one syncing service running at a time.

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/ExtensibilityPG/Finder.html

Each Dropbox Finder Extension process should be using minimal resources, and if they are not, that is a performance concern.

But multiple Finder Sync Extension processes, using minimal resources, are normal and something that you will see in every single Finder Sync Extension on your Mac.

Wvp

The Dropbox Finder Extension does use many resources 40-50 MB per instance.

pk_dragon

The Dropbox Finder Extension process can be disabled entirely by unchecking the extension in System Preferences > Extensions > Finder Extensions.

This will stop the duplicate/multiple Dropbox Finder Extension processes, but of course will also disable the Finder icon sync badges, etc.

DFE eating too many resources may be a problem; not sure what they are doing or if they have some kind of performance issue. That should be explored independently of the "multiple processes" behavior.

Just to reiterate, multiple processes in and of itself isn't a problem. Dropbox can do nothing to prevent those from spawning. That's how macOS extensions are designed to work for security and other reasons.

kbuicker

I have this same issue. date 2021-10-08 at 9.52.55 AM.jpg

kbuicker

You sound like me 🙂 . Nicely written. Sometimes, you have to bust some b*lls to get noticed and get something done.

marksc111

I posted a long response to this post months ago, basically destroying this argument that it's expected behaviour. (I am an AppKit developer myself, so I speak with some authority). It seems that moderators deleted my post! That speaks volumes.