The Dropbox update for full compatibility with macOS 12.3 and above has finally been released, and is safe to install without compromise of online files capabilities.
Back in February we recommended not to upgrade to macOS 12.3 and above if you used online file storage solutions including Dropbox – as certain features were not yet compatible. Microsoft and Google have released updates for their OneDrive and Google Drive applications in the meantime, but Dropbox have taken until now to release their own update.
Without this update, Dropbox users on Mac would experience issues managing and opening files which were set to be stored online and downloaded on demand. Which is a core component and common function of online file storage, to avoid having to sync everything to each computer and thereby saving data usage and drive space on machines.
Dropbox say “Full support for macOS 12.5 and higher has started rolling out. This update fixes issues related to opening online-only files in third-party applications for users on macOS 12.3 and 12.4.”
So the ideal solution is to update your Mac to macOS 12.5 and ensure your Dropbox application is also updated. If you aren’t seeing the capability in your Dropbox application, you can turn on early releases in its settings to try and force this to become available to you.
This issue is now marked as “Solved” on Dropbox’s problem tracker and you can view their help article about it here.