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Forum Discussion
Dropbox is continuously reporting it's syncing, or indexing on Windows 10.
Hello,
Despite not making any changes to my Dropbox folder contents on my Windows host the Dropbox icon is at a constant syncing and/or indexing state and I cannot tell what it is actually trying to do. I've had this issue for weeks, I've had to even shut down Dropbox at times because it was using a high amount of CPU cycles.
I've updated to latest version 86.4.146 and I still have the problem. I do not have this issue on my Ubuntu box at home. Is there a way to tell what Dropbox is actually doing? I just get a vague statement it says it's "Syncing..." or "Indexing one file", but can't tell what it is syncing or indexing.
Several documents were showing up in the Windows File Explorer, but had a gray x icon on it. I right clicked on all of them and selected Smart Sync->Local. They downloaded (changing the icon to green checkmark), and then then the sync icon on the Dropbox icon in the status bar went away. I'm not sure why I needed to do manually select Smart Sync for each individual file when I'm using Selective Sync and specified that folder, but that appears to have stopped the continous syncing for me at least for now.
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Hey coymeetsworld, thanks for reaching out here!
There could be a few reasons causing this issue. Could you try the following and let me know if it does the trick:
- Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray.
- Click the profile pic/initials icon in the top right of the window.
- Choose "Preferences..."
- Go to the "Account" tab.
- While holding the *
Space bar"Alt+H" keys, click "Fix Hardlinks".
If this doesn't resolve the issue, please follow the steps again and instead click "Fix permissions". The app might need to sync for a while after doing this, so please just keep an eye out for any progress.
Let me know how it goes - thanks!
*EDITED - amended the steps due to changes in the app.
Thank you for the quick reply Daphne!
I tried both Fixing hardlink and permissions and I'm still seeing the sync icon over my Dropbox icon.
When clicking on the icon and opening up the panel, on the bottom the status oscillates between Syncing... and Syncing ""
Any thoughts on that? It's says it's syncing an empty string.
- Daphne
Thanks for getting back to me here coymeetsworld!
After fixing the permissions and hardlinks, it may need a little time just to catch up so it would be normal to see the status fluctuate a bit.
However, let's have a look at some other possibilities in the meantime.
Do you possibly have any symlinks within your Dropbox folder pointing outwards? You can check this with the steps outlined in point 7 here.
Also, can you let me know around how many files are within your local Dropbox folder? You can right click the Dropbox folder and choose "Properties..." to see this.
Let me know what you find!
I recently updated to a busniess account from a professional account and now it is trying to sync all of the files - was going fine but now it seems to be stuck and says its downloading 23 files (0.0kb/sec 2+ days) - I have tried to pause and restart the sync, restarted dropbox and even restarted the computer and it does the same thing. Please help! Thank you!
Greg
- Daphne
Hi there Endlessimagery, I hope you're well today!
Can you just try the steps outlined here to see if that will allowing syncing to progress on your device?
These steps will fix any incorrect file permissions that might be preventing the app from being able to sync.
Just to note, if you happen to be using a Mac device instead, you'll need to hold down the Options/Alt key instead of the Space bar.
Let me know how it goes!
Hi
i've been using Dropbax for q good while now and I've not had any issues before but since Monday (1st June 2020) the Dropbox on my Windows 10 PC is taking forever to complete a sync. For nearly three days none of the files I needed to sync are syncing. The icon says it's still syncing but there seems to be no changes when I go to Dropbox.com to check if the files are there. I've manually copied the folders and files on to Dropbox.com so my customer can access them.
When I pause the sync and restart it sits at about 10 files to sync then will stay like that for hours. I then went to restart the sync again and now it shows over 600 files but the numbers are't decreasing and nothing is being updated when I open Dropbox.com
Anyone know why this is? They aren't partcularly large files.
Thanks,
Wayne
- Daphne
Hello DMP3D, I hope you're well today!
Since the sync appears to be stuck, can you try the steps outlined here and let me know if that does the trick?
You'll need to allow the app a short time to apply the changes and allow the sync to progress, so please just keep an eye on the sync status for any changes there.
Keep me posted with your results!
My dropbox is perpetually trying to sync (index) 2 files. I cannot even see which 2 files these might be. It is using a lot of processing power of my computer and I have tried everything to resolve this. Anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this?
Thanks, this worked! No more perpetual indexing!! I should say that once in the account section, spacebar did not work. I had to hold alt + h to get the options up.
Daphne wrote:Hello AJK87, I hope you're having a good day so far!
I've merged your post here to keep all troubleshooting regarding issues similar to this in one location.
When you have the chance, please check out my post above and let me know if that helps.
Let me know - thanks!
I have the exact same issue, two files indexing forever and impossible to see which ones....
- Daphne
Hi there cgmatt and Jhinkle78, thanks for joining us here!
If you haven't already, can you try out the steps outlined here and let me know if that does the trick?
Please allow a little time for the changes to take affect and keep an eye on the sync status for any progress. If you have a lot of files, this may take a little time.
Keep me posted!
hi,
the syncing on 1 of my PCs hasn't worked since the last update.
It's just stuck at syncen the files, it shows how many and the speed (0kbps).
I tried to install it again, tried a different user on the same PC.
When i download the files into the dropbox folder the app notice that and count the files to dowload down and marks them with a green check mark.When i install it on a second and third PC it works just fine.
All PCs are in the same Domain, with the same VirusProtection and behind the same Firewall with the same rights and all run Windows 10 1909.I have done everything i found online and in the help section (uninstalled, unbind, uninstalled virus protection, ...)
I just have no more ideas what to do
- Daphne
Hey Chillosoph, I hope you're having a good day so far!
I've merged your post here as you described a similar issue. Can you please take a look at my first post here and let me know if this does the trick?
Let me know - thanks!
Hi Daphne,
I don't have the Option described.
All i can do is unlink the Account
Right now, I have well over 100,000 files on dropbox, using about 1.4 TB of the 3 TB available. My problem is, that almost everything gets synchronized, but just before the end the synchronization seems to stop and won't quite finish some tasks (see screenshot):
Translation:
DSC_5139.jpg is being indexed
17 files are being uploaded
DSC_5139.jp is being downloadedIf I add or remove files, they will get synchronized, however, what is shown in the picture above will remain. I've restarted dropbox, restarted my PC, even disconnected dropbox and reconnected it again. Interestingly, after disconnecting my dropbox and reconnecting it, the problem remained, but the tasks left undone were different.
So now I've run out of ideas and would really appreciate some help to get that green tick back.
There are quite a few forum posts about Dropbox getting stuck syncing. I've reviewed those and tried the various proposed solutions. Here's what I've done thus far:
- Quit and restarted DB
- Rebooted the PC
- Quit, downloaded DB again, and restarted DB
- Unlinked DB and relinked DB
- Used the Advanced Reinstall method linked here
In each case, DB dutifully starts resyncing my files and folders, and eventually just stops when it gets to 2187 files to go and 3.7GB to go.
DB is not entirely broken, as it successfully syncs SOME new files and edited files, but it goes back to that number and storage-to-go number eventually.
This is PC running Windows 10 with the latest version of DB
Any thoughts and help would be appreciated.
Hello camner
Have you tried a Force Un-Install of the Dropbox App on your computer(please note a forced un-install is different from a regular un-install)? If not follow the instructions on this page https://appuals.com/how-to-uninstall-programs-on-windows-10-that-wont-uninstall/. Also to fix common sync problems go to https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/files-not-syncing and https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/files-update-issues and follow the recommended steps. I hope this helps!
----
Thanks, anonymous for your reply.
- I'm not sure what you mean by a "force uninstall," but I used Add or Remove Programs from the Windows 10 control panel and Dropbox seemed to uninstall just fine. I also used the "Advanced Reinstall" method described here. Is that what you mean?
- I viewed the link you helpfully provided to the Dropbox article titled "Troubleshoot Dropbox syncing issues." It mentioned characters in filenames that may cause problems. Is there a way to search for files with such characters in their names? I'm syncing nearly 300,000 files and it isn't possible to go through them all to see if any of them might have problematical characters in their names.
- I have checked most of the items referred to in the last DB article to which you linked. Most of the items I pass with flying colors. I haven't tried turning off the antivirus software (Defender) or whitelisting DB, but I haven't made any changes to my antivirus software in several years, and the issue cropped up about 3 weeks ago. I suppose there may have been an update that auto installed via Windows Update...
I think what I need is a way to determine which file(s) or folder(s) DB is getting stuck on, but I have no idea how to do that.
Hi! I recently had to "refresh" my desktop, which uninstalled all of my apps. After I reinstalled Dropbox desktop (Windows 10) the computer acts funny.
I can see Dropbox in my systems tray showing a constant syncing of 11K+ files. When I right click to open the systems tray, the window opens up....all white...not responding. After about 3-4 minutes, the unresponsive window closes. Opening Dropbox causes my computer to act funny---I can't even reliably open task manager to kill apps.
Help!
