Indexing... (Dropbox)

This is concerning a case from June 2024:

Problem

On a new Linux Mint installation, I installed Dropbox with my usual account. Some hours later, the status was still Indexing... and no files appeared on this computer.

Possible causes

• Dropbox basically gets overloaded with too many files to index, and it gets stuck somehow [1]

Additional information

• https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-tips-tricks/How-to-fix-being-stuck-on-Indexing-forever-loop-of-death-on/td-p/575798

Possible solutions

• Dropbox » Preferences » Syncing: Select a small enough subtree and extend from there
• Pause syncing: Indexing will continue under the hood, but much faster now that no new changes have to be incorporated
• Remove Dropbox/.dropbox.cache

Actions

Unless stated otherwise, these actions didn't result in a solution:

• Pause syncing for 15 minutes
• Under Preferences, only select a very small subtree
• Apply same solution as for the Syncing... problem: echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=100000000 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf; sudo sysctl -p + restart computer