You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

Slangword's avatar
Slangword
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago

Allow files to open without preview in the mobile app, like they used to.

  Drop Dropbox used to open files with default apps without the preview function. That functionality has since been removed. That functionality was very helpful to those of us using atypical files ...
Mobile
Preview
View
Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

Hey markm4663, thanks for your reply here and sorry to see you're having this issue.

 

I'm happy to see that your previous issue was resolved so quickly.

 

Can you give us the ticket number for the current one, so we can investigate further?

RobDBell's avatar
RobDBell
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

I have the same issue. Trying to open a file of type *.KDB and it will only attempt a preview. I do have the proper app on my phone configured to open that type of file but apparently DropBox intercedes and won't do anything but attempt a preview. If DropBox app cannot preview it should proceed on to open in associated app automatically. This is a 'convenience' feature that is actually very inconvenient for users. Stop overthinking it, DropBox.

  • markm4663's avatar
    markm4663
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

    Hey all!

    Looks like our voices have been heard.

    There was a new release on Oct 17 for Android!

    Now, on the preview screen, there is a link to "Open with..." so now we don't need to navigate to the 3 dots etc.

    • RobDBell's avatar
      RobDBell
      New member | Level 2
      2 years ago

      Interesting. I just set up a new phone yesterday afternoon and that update was released after that. I did just update and try it and it isn't really much progress. Instead of clicking the 3 dot menu and choosing 'Open with' now we click the file name and choose 'Open with' button. Still two clicks.

       

      What I'd expect is an option to eliminate the preview attempt entirely, at least after the first failed preview open. The system should be smart enough (or configurable enough) to stop doing something that can never work. Setting: "Always open files associated with an app in the native app"

      • markm4663's avatar
        markm4663
        Helpful | Level 6
        2 years ago
        The newly implemented behavior gets us back to where we were before the issue was implemented months ago.
        It would be nice if Dropbox would just open the file if the default has been specified for the file.
        🤞

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