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Forum Discussion

bwhight's avatar
bwhight
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago

Smart Sync - Windows Explorer Search Not Working

I am testing Smart Sync for our team.  All fine but when files are 'Online Only', Windows Explorer search can't fined them.  I have tried a few PCs in our team and all have the same problem, so I don...
Desktop
Setting up the apps
  • Lucio's avatar
    Lucio
    7 years ago

    The Windows search functionality, that allows finding files set to online-only through the Smart Sync feature, is now available on computers with versions of Windows 8 and above, starting with the beta version 60.3 of the Dropbox desktop application that you can find here.

    When this is available in the stable version 60.4 next week, your computer should automatically update and receive the fix.

    Thanks to all that reported this and we appreciate your patience on this matter.

    Happy syncing!

kmarcel's avatar
kmarcel
New member | Level 2

After SmartSync was introduced, most of our files are online only.

Today i needed to find a folder location for a named like file. 

I started searching a "like filename" in the Browse for files dialog of a browser, in the Dropbox folder. It found nothing. I relaxed the search, it found 2 files, not what i knew existed. I said - ok - the search is now broken in dialogs or DropBox paused.

Trying again with an Explorer window and DropBox active, same result.

I ended up going online, to search for the files. For 15 seconds, DropBox online showed exactly the same files as on my PC, but left an end placeholder. After time, it populated the correct results with all files and i found the needed folder name. 

I personally split the search concept into - file properties, metadata and file content. Ok, the file is online, and has no content. Same with metadata. But Explorer knows file properties - file name, real size, dates and attributes. 

How do i get Windows Search to index at least the names of the files that are online?

Thanks,

Lusil's avatar
Lusil
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Hi kmarcel! I’ve moved your post here since it seems to be similar to what other users are reporting. 
 
As Ross S. mentions in their previous post, we’re currently looking into it. If you’d like, due to account-specific info required, you can contact our Support team via email so as to have a more in-depth look into this. 
 
Cheers! :grin:
  • Lucio's avatar
    Lucio
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago

    The Windows search functionality, that allows finding files set to online-only through the Smart Sync feature, is now available on computers with versions of Windows 8 and above, starting with the beta version 60.3 of the Dropbox desktop application that you can find here.

    When this is available in the stable version 60.4 next week, your computer should automatically update and receive the fix.

    Thanks to all that reported this and we appreciate your patience on this matter.

    Happy syncing!

    • mxoh's avatar
      mxoh
      Collaborator | Level 10
      7 years ago

      Lucio Are you sure it is fixed? I am on Windows 10 and it still doesn't work for files and only folders.

       

      • SteveWeston's avatar
        SteveWeston
        Helpful | Level 6
        7 years ago

        Oh drats.  You are right mxoh.  Its now finding online-only folders, but not online-only files.  Still not fixed.  Lucio, can you please advise?

    • JR_Baas's avatar
      JR_Baas
      Explorer | Level 3
      7 years ago

      What about Windows 7?  Is there going to be a fix for that as well?

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