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The Dropbox app is stuck indexing files on my Windows 11.

I installed Dropbox on a new computer running Windows 11, and the local Dropbox folder does not display any files or folders—it is completely empty while Dropbox has been showing "Indexing" for over 15 hours. I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but the problem persists. I also selected a few folders and files (4 or 5 small folders) to be available in the local Dropbox folder, but without success.

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Megan

Hey @JC_BR, sorry to hear about this.

If you're still stuck at syncing, could you confirm the version number of the Dropbox desktop application by hovering over the icon in the menu bar?

A screenshot of the app's status as shown in your system tray would also help, so feel free to include one.

On a side note, have you tried adjusting your bandwidth settings through the app's preferences to see if it helps at all?

Keep me posted!

sc0ttkclark

I have the same exact issue. I have a LOT of files/folders but I have chosen to only sync the smallest batch of folders.

This happens on initial install too.

macOS Sequoia 15.6.1
Dropbox.app - 231.4.5770
No bandwidth limits

Walter

Hi @sc0ttkclark - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Can you clarify how long has the Dropbox desktop app been stuck at 'indexing' for us and if you rebooted your computer and/or internet router in the meantime?

sc0ttkclark

I have tried a full reboot and my router recently power cycled after encountering the issue.

Walter

I see, thanks for the clarification, Scott. And how long has it been since you first noticed this?

Also, do you have any 3rd party apps running on your computer that might be monitoring your files somehow?

Nancy

Hi from me as well, @sc0ttkclark! Since I don’t see any files/folders in your local Dropbox folder (besides some hidden ones) and you also mention that this is a new install, can you clarify when you logged in to the desktop app on your computer exactly?

Did you choose to not sync most of your files locally during the sign-in process? Keep in mind that the performance of the desktop app may decline if more than 300k files are saved within the local Dropbox folder.

Finally, I’d like you to right-click on your local Dropbox folder directly, go to “Get info” and send me a screenshot of the next window you’ll see.

sc0ttkclark

@Walter No other apps monitoring my files. I kept seeing the Indexing message for a few days until it finally started syncing. It crashed out of the Dropbox app yesterday when it got down to just below 200k files to download.

I started the app again and it went back to the Indexing state. It’s still indexing so I will check back tonight and tomorrow to see if it crashes before it completes more downloading.

I have a LOT of files in my Dropbox and I’m using up about 1TB of storage on my account. I anticipated it would be difficult to download them all but it’s necessary for me to do this so I can begin to reduce how I use Dropbox and switch away from long term backup towards short term backup reliance. It’s too slow to handle my many years of archived files and photos.

sc0ttkclark

@Nancy I tried a few things with no luck getting past the “Indexing” forever. Ultimately landed on just selecting all files because my intent was to download them all anyways.

I tried selecting only a few smaller directories and the Indexing message stayed for a day so I restarted the process with all files selected. I assumed the indexing issue was because I had a huge Dropbox account so it wouldn’t save me much time downloading in groups of folders.

sc0ttkclark

Still indexing, a full day 2 into that process and it has finally expanded to give me index % complete and hours remaining. Sounds like I've got a while to go.. It switches between ~40 to ~90 hours depending on when you look at it.

Nancy

Does it still switch between ~40 and ~90 hours?

I’d also like a screenshot of what you see after right-clicking on your local Dropbox folder and choosing “Get info”.

sc0ttkclark

Yes, sometimes as high as 290+ I've seen.

Here is the Get Info for my Dropbox folder. I don't the the size will ever finish calculating

Megan

Hey @sc0ttkclark!

Based on the info that you provided it looks like you're using a rather large amount of files.

With approximately 1TB of used storage, and I'm guessing more than 300K files stored in your account (hence the delay while calculating the folder's size), this is expected behavior I'm afraid.

What I'd suggest as a last resort and since this is an initial installation process is the following:

-Unlink and then uninstall the Dropbox app from your device.

-Once that's done, delete your existing Dropbox folder and any files in it.

- Download and reinstall the app, but this time during the installation process make sure to choose for your files to sync and download as online-only. (Keep in mind that you might need to check your advanced settings during installation in order to see the option).

Alternatively you can choose our selective sync feature to remove all of your folders upon this starting phase. Don't worry, you can always sync them back after.

That way, and once the app's status is updated you can then choose to gradually sync your content in smaller batches as available offline.

I'm always here if you have any questions!

sc0ttkclark

It might be sunk cost fallacy but I'm going to hold out because syncing the smaller batches of files took forever to index too. If I restart then I'll lose the progress I had made in syncing hundreds of thousands of files at this point.

Still indexing as of this morning though.

Walter

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on this @sc0ttkclark

If it gets stuck at syncing the exact same amount of files for a while with no progress, you might need to consider using selective sync to lessen the app's load. Let us know of any updates anyhow!

sc0ttkclark

Way more than 300k files, I've got 3+ million files apparently.

If you hover over the icon it will give you better information than the app itself does. It tells you how many files left to index.

Still indexing..

Nancy

Hey again, @sc0ttkclark. Regarding the app version of your Dropbox app, it looks like you’re running the alpha app version (233.2.3554), instead of the stable one (231.4.5770).

If the app gets stuck again, you can also try updating it as the next step. You can do this by turning off early releases via your General tab here and installing the stable app version after that.

sc0ttkclark

It kept having trouble so I went through my Dropbox and managed to download some subdirectories as ZIPs after clearing out a bunch of extra stuff. It took a long while to do this but it was still faster than waiting for Dropbox to index even the few folders I chose (I excluded Camera Uploads).

I deleted the files/directories that I downloaded from Dropbox so it's truly cleared up now.

It turns out that the Camera Uploads directory is 599.8 GB and probably where most of my files are too.

I did a full advanced reinstall of Dropbox. I opted out of the file provider feature, opted out of the new menu experience, and have it set up to sync just my Camera Uploads.

It's indexing once again fresh, we'll see if it gets anywhere over the next few days.

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @sc0ttkclark.

If you do come across an issue again, please don't hesitate to let us know.

sc0ttkclark

Still indexing unfortunately.

I've begun pulling down everything from Camera Uploads to an entirely separate drive via a bash script I've been working on as a fallback.

I've got 60GB pulled down now and I'll let it keep going until Dropbox finishes indexing.

sc0ttkclark

Completed the download and removed all of the Camera Uploads from Dropbox. Sure seems faster now 😅

I hope the Dropbox team works on making Dropbox a better place for family photo collections like mine which go back to 2006. That's 644GB and 39k photos/videos.

Megan

Hi @sc0ttkclark!

Is it safe to assume that everything is back on track, and that the desktop app is up-to-date now? 🧐