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Forum Discussion
Solved
Decryption fails running iOS 14.2
Just updated iPhone and iPad to iOS 14.2. Now, trying to open an encrypted file, it tell me "Decryption Failed. Null" If I open with Excel, it works fine. Anyone else having this issue?
I also have success opening an encrypted file within Dropbox after updated 14.4 IOS update. Thanks for everyone's help and input.
Same here. Just been on Dropbox chat. Hopefully apple are aware and working hard to fix it.
We also have an older ipad that is stuck on iOS 12 and that opens the encrypted file with no problem.
same here
I have the same problem. Using MS Office is not an interesting option.
- There is a quick workaround while we wait for Apple to fix the bug. Essentially it’s to use MS Office to open the file instead of letting iOS to enable the opening of the file.
1. Download MS Office into your iPhone/iPad
2. Click the encrypted file you want to open
3. You will be presented with a screen to put in the password. Instead of entering the password, click the “share” icon at the top right corner (Rectangle with Up Arrow)
4. Click the MS Office icon
5. Enter password and the file should now open using the appropriate MS app.
Hope this helps while we wait for Apple to resolve the issue. I recently upgraded my app to Version 216.2, and now when I try to open an Excel file I get an error that says 'Decryption failed. (null)' Desktop version works fine. Any solutions out there? The help bot seems to be... worthless???
Tim25,
What app are you referring to? What are you trying to open it on? Need details
I can no longer open any of my password protected files on my iPhone using the native app. I get the maessage "Decryption failed - (null). I can open the files with Word on my iPhone. I have the latest version of IOS (14.2) running on an iPhone SE2. Can anyone throw any light on this?
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hey there keithplatts; thanks for joining our Community!
I just merged your post under this thread is it echoes the OP here.
Can you take a look and let us know if you have any follow questions?
Here is a successful workaround for iPhones and iPads running 14.2.x. Its called Interim Solution
This will have to do until Apple fixes the issue but at least its a free interim solution.
Yes, same issue for our entire team using Dropbox for Business. We found a related thread on Microsoft's community site, so definitely not the only ones experiencing this issue. Now, whether or not it will ever be addressed is another thing, because we could see every involved party (Apple - iOS, Microsoft, and Dropbox) all potentially pointing the finger at the other company, saying, "It's their fault."
- This is a complaint on several forums and I have read where some people posted that they can in fact open a password protected MS Office file directly on their iPhone running 14.2.x without having MS Office installed but I firmly believe they were mistaken in that they did not understand how a file actually opens on their phone/tablet or they wrote in haste before having a chance to really test it.Some have subsequently posted that all of a sudden it stopped working and they did nothing to their iPhone or iPad…this is hard to understand but that is what they wrote. Some claimed Apple fixed it but said their iOS had not changed from when it did not work to when they said it did. Some people just don't put many details in their posts so you really have to guess at what they are saying and english may not be the mother tongue of others who post. When you hit upon a topic of interest in one of these support forums, you really have to read all the posts in it, not just the one marked Solved because many times that is not the real solution.As of this writing, Apple has not released a fix that puts this feature back into iOS. However, there are still a couple ways of opening password protected MS Office files under iOS 14.2.X, none of them are as simple as they used to be before Apple released 14.2 so it entails an extra step now, it is what it is till they fix it, if in fact they see it as an issue in the first place, who knows, maybe it was intentional :-0Yes, in looking at it from a different angle, we are talking about opening password protected Microsoft files on an Apple product where Apple software was doing all the work. Could it be Apple found out this was possible and decided to plug the hole and make people download MS Office onto their device to be able to do it? Or could it be Microsoft discovered it was possible to open a password protected Microsoft file on an Apple device without first downloading or buying the Microsoft app and they complained to Apple? Well, at this point its anyones guess.So once again, here is how it can be done.. ..1- I installed the 'free' MS Office app (not 360), from the Apple App store and that takes care of Word, PowerPoint and Excel but I do not manually open that MS Office app when I need to open an MS password protected file. For me, I have my files (Excel, Word, etc) stored in Apple's "File" folder app which comes standard in iOS, all the files are there in one nice tidy place. I open the file I want from within the Files app and let the phone do the rest. I have not tried opening a file from within my Dropbox app as I just simply haven't used that app in a long time and I do not have the business edition of Dropbox but by explaining how I do it, I think those who do use Dropbox on their phones/tablets will find a work around as well.When I touch the file I want to open, it looks at the file extension then looks at the apps on my phone, it finds the MS Office app and automatically opens that app and then that app opens my Excel file thereby prompting me for the password. Works great and since its opening it in the proper app instead of an Apple Preview, I get to use the app features if I want and I found it easier to zoom in and copy and paste in the actual app vs Preview. I'm actually starting to like it better than the way it was but would still like to see Apple put things back to the way they were because for me, a Preview of the file was good enough for my purposes.2- Others just open their MS Office app first or if they don't have that app but only have the separate Excel or Word or Powerpoint app, they open that first, navigate to the file they want and open it by entering their password just like you would on a desktop.In other words, you now need to have the app responsible for the file extension you want to open, on your device whereas before, Apple's embedded Preview opened it automatically. What was nice about using Preview was that you could "preview' the file directly from within Apple Mail and of course now you cannot. However, today’s devices are fast and it only takes two seconds for my iPhone to read the file extension, open the MS Office app and present me with the space to enter the password.Here is one more workaround...that works! Take your password protected MS file and save it as a password protected pdf on your computer and email it to yourself and you will find that you can open it directly from within Apple Mail on an iOS 14.2.x device. This works for those who do not need to save the file but just need to open it to get the data within it and then will delete the email. Of course you can also keep it in your Files app if you want.Hope this helps.. ..
Thanks for the explanation. have you checked it also with password protected Excel files in Dropbox?
- This problem has been going on ever since 14.2 has broken into the ionosphere. Believe me, no one is listening. So, you can post the problem until the end of the earth and the same tepid relies will be posted.
I am having the same issue..
- Unfortunately iOS 14.3 does not fix this issue.
I was on the phone with an Apple senior support tech doing some password protected file testing and we sort of concluded a couple things:
1. Either Apple will come out with a solution in an upcoming iOS release (guess it wasn't 14.3 from what Nealwald just reported
2. It may not be a bug or an accidental change in that it sorta fits within the direction Apple has been going with their OS releases for either mobile devices or desktop/laptops as it pertains to third party apps/programs.
I've already made my work around the standard operating procedure for me but I don't use Dropbox like a lot of you do but would encourge you not to wait for an Apple solution :-0
Depuis quelque temps j'ouvre mon fichier protégé par mot de passe avec excel ce qui m'embête profondément. Ce problème je l'ai uniquement lorsque j'utilise mon IPhone (XR). Avec les autres appareils, sous Windows, je n'ai pas ce problème.
Ce n'est pas sûr que Microsoft fasse quelque chose pour régler ça.
Tant que la petite gueguerre qui se livrent les deux géants, Microsoft et Apple, persiste, nous les utilisateurs, allons devoir choisir notre camp pour ne pas avoir à subir de bugs. Ils savent qu'on n'aime pas qu'on nous sorte du petit confort où tout marche bien. La preuve est ce forum où l'on perd notre temps précieux à chercher la petite bête qui ne fonctionne pas. C'est exactement ce que Microsoft ou Apple cherchent: fidéliser le consommateur à une seule marque. C'est dans l'air du temps la polarisation, non?
Nous avons probablement de la chance qu'Apple nous permette même d'installer un produit Microsoft sur un téléphone Apple. Son affaire, ne le prenez pas personnellement :)
We are probably lucky that Apple even allows us to install a Microsoft product on an Apple phone. Its business, don't take it personally :)
