Dropbox won't be fully functional when macOS 12.3 arrives

Dropbox is warning users about known issues accessing online-only files from third-party applications after updating to macOS 12.3.

In an email to customers on Tuesday, Dropbox is warning that online-only files won't be able to be read by third-party apps by double-clicking on them. The same email also addresses how to work around the problem.

Those wishing to access their files via a third-party program will need to employ a workaround that involves downloading the files to their Mac with the same double-click to open in Finder, but there will be a pause as the file downloads. Users must move all online-only files to local storage if they need to access them in third-party programs until Dropbox fixes the issue.

In short, files labeled with a small cloud icon will need to be downloaded before accessing the contents of the file, instead of opening the file directly on the file share without a full download.

Alternatively, users can make an online-only file available to third-party applications.

Open the Dropbox folder in Finder
Right click the file you want to make available to third-party programs
Click Make available offline, which will download the file to the Dropbox folder

This will also download the file to the Dropbox folder on your Mac. Once the file is successfully downloaded, you should see the cloud icon change to a green checkmark.

Dropbox clarifies that it will begin rolling out a beta version with a fix sometime in March.

Apple's macOS 12.2 is imminent, and Dropbox will work fine when it arrives. Betas of macOS 12.3 haven't been released to the public yet, but it's clear that Dropbox has inside information on the contents and limitations of it.

Should you want to access the beta release when it becomes available, you can opt into Dropbox betas by following the steps on Dropbox's website.

14 Comments

Mac4mac 16 comments · 2 Years

About 2 years ago

Wow! These guys just continue to plumb new depths in customer support!

I’ve been a loyal Dropbox customer for years until now. I let my subscription lapse and migrated across to my mostly unused iCloud Drive.

The fact that they can’t get their core product fixed quickly (“…rolling out a beta sometime in March”) over a month wait … for a beta!!

Is this an early April Fools ??

sflocal 6133 comments · 16 Years

Like Adobe, I'm really disappointed with Dropbox. I've been a loyal Dropbox customer since... forever, and considering how much money they rake in, it's inexcusable that they are fumbling like they are. Did their engineers quit? Do they have less-than-stellar engineers working on this? What gives?

It's the same with Adobe. Lightroom for ages has been dismal in terms of performance for Intel-based Macs. The M1 appears to be better, but I think it has more to do with Apple doing all the CPU work faster than Adobe actually doing anything.

libertyandfree 189 comments · 11 Years

Sorry to see Dropbox lacking this basic support. Dropbox storage has always been so much better than Microsoft’s still terrible OneDrive which I am now forced to use with my work.

Not sure why these companies struggle with such basic functionality.

jjfabbsy 2 comments · 6 Years

I think Dropbox runs like a gym membership - catering for those that sign up just so they can say they are a member of a gym - and not really use it. These users in this case, would not be heavy lead users, not using all their space etc. etc.

I will no longer use the Dropbox client on my Mac because it randomly deleted many of my files due to sync bugs - luckily I noticed this and was able to resurrect in time.

The only time I have ever had issues with Dropbox is when I have had needs that push me into difficult user territory, eg. Using most of my space and needing more than 3TB, expecting parity of functionality via cross platform support eg. MacOS and Linux.

If iCloud + started focussing on their data storage service offering to meet and exceed DropBox - I’d drop Dropbox in a heartbeat.

jjfabbsy said:

I think Dropbox runs like a gym membership - catering for those that sign up just so they can say they are a member of a gym - and not really use it. These users in this case, would not be heavy lead users, not using all their space etc. etc.

I will no longer use the Dropbox client on my Mac because it randomly deleted many of my files due to sync bugs - luckily I noticed this and was able to resurrect in time.
The only time I have ever had issues with Dropbox is when I have had needs that push me into difficult user territory, eg. Using most of my space and needing more than 3TB, expecting parity of functionality via cross platform support eg. MacOS and Linux.

If iCloud + started focussing on their data storage service offering to meet and exceed DropBox - I’d drop Dropbox in a heartbeat.

So the "only" time you had "issues" is when you needed more than 3TB, yet you say Dropbox mysteriously deleted many of your files? Which is it?

Not sure your use-case. I've been a heavy paid-subscriber of dropbox for over 10 years, and have never once had an issue of it mysteriously deleting files. I support quite a few clients that use Dropbox as well and same can be said for them. It's still the best cloud storage shop imho compared to the competition. It's just that the performance of their clients and supporting them has been dismal over the past year or two.