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Dropbox has been stuck/indexing thousands of files on my computer.

Starting this week, my Dropbox has been constantly syncing thousands of files, which never seem to end. The file number does not just descrease. It aslo increases as shown in the video below (Sorry it is in Korean. It says syncing on the app, while the hovering window says indexing.)

I tried following, which did not solve the problem:

Reinstall Dropbox
Update the selective sync setting
Disable the early access setting on my account (it was never enabled though...)

I do not remember changing any settings recently. How can I solve this problem?

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Neal

Hi @joonbug,

That's strange? In the meantime, let me just copy and paste his response right here:

"Hi all, thanks for sharing your observations!

What you’re experiencing may not actually be a bug. This is an expected behavior during Dropbox’s indexing process. After certain types of actions (like migration, reinstalling, renaming large folders, or applying a new build), Dropbox can reindex files to ensure everything is correctly cataloged and in sync across devices.

This reindexing can take longer than expected, especially if there are a lot of files or changes involved. While it might look like something is stuck, it’s usually just Dropbox working through that background process.

Your files remain fully available and usable during indexing. Nothing is lost or blocked. Dropbox continues to operate as normal while it rebuilds its internal index.

If you continue to see unusually prolonged indexing with no progress after a reasonable amount of time, feel free to reach out with logs so we can take a closer look. But in most cases, just letting it finish without interruption is the best course.

Appreciate everyone flagging their experiences. It helps others know what to expect!"

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Nancy

Hey @joonbug, sorry to hear about this.

Did you have any recent Dropbox app updates, that could’ve led to this behavior (like the Dropbox for Windows update, or the Dropbox on File Provider update)?

Other than that, I’d like to know the number of files currently saved in your local Dropbox folder. You can check this by right-clicking on your Dropbox folder and going to its Properties/Get info.

Let me know what you find.

joonbug

Hi, thank you so much for your response.

I am not sure whether it was due to a Dropbox update, but recently, when I turned on my pc, the Dropbox app automatically showed a pop-up window with something (I pressed skip without reading...). Could it be due to an update?

There are about 200,000 files

Thank you in advance.

Neal

Hi @joonbug,

Thanks for letting us know.

I believe everything is working just fine (although it may not look like it).

A few other users reported similar issues to this in this post.

I'd suggest reading through Vlad's response, it should alleviate any concerns!

joonbug

Hi, thank you for sharing the post.

However, I could not find Vlad's response on the link you shared. It leads to a post about Stable Build 228.4.5567, which does not have any responses ...

Neal

Hi @joonbug,

That's strange? In the meantime, let me just copy and paste his response right here:

"Hi all, thanks for sharing your observations!

Your files remain fully available and usable during indexing. Nothing is lost or blocked. Dropbox continues to operate as normal while it rebuilds its internal index.

Appreciate everyone flagging their experiences. It helps others know what to expect!"