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Colene's avatar
Colene
Explorer | Level 3
3 months ago

The user I'm sharing a folder with can't open PDFs on their end.

Hi team,

Recently I joined a shared folder on dropbox, I use a mac and the original user has windows. Once I move folders and documents (as I do the filing), somehow the windows user can no longer open the pdfs, but they are able to navigate through the dropbox, just not open any documents.

Is there a setting I need to change on my mac?

 

How can I fix this issue?

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    No, these settings wouldn't be affecting your files and how you preview them Colene 

     

    Have you ensured that your colleagues are trying to open those files after making them available offline on their computers? 

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Welcome aboard the Community, @Colene!

     

    When saying this happens upon moving files/folders, can you clarify what you mean? For example, are you moving/uploading new files/folders within the shared folder and the other user is unable to open them? 

     

    Are they getting any errors on their end? 

     

    Are they unable to open them on the Dropbox website or the desktop app? You’re able to access everything properly, correct?

     

    Let me know more info and we can take a look.

    • Colene's avatar
      Colene
      Explorer | Level 3

      Thanks Nancy, 

      So I work on dropbox offline, and the other person as well. I work on mac and they on Windows. What I think is happening, is that when I make changes - ie, they pop 3 pdf's into folder A, and I go and sub-file them into specific folders ie Folder 1, Folder 2 and Folder 3, so I'm just moving them around within the dropbox, not making changes to the actual pdf or editing. Once I've moved it from folder A to folder B/1/2/3 etc, the other user can no longer open it without an error message popping up or just letting me know that it doesn't open at all on their end. 

       

      So someone advised that I only work on dropbox from my end online, so that the changes are instant and I don't have to download/upload sync from my offline version and then the other user just needs to sync their offline version. Does that make sense?

       

      Otherwise I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong when I'm using the dropbox offline.

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hi @Colene, is it possible that they're trying to open the PDF files from within their PDF program, as in, opening their recent files?

         

        If so, this could mean that the program is trying to find the PDF in the old location, and can't find it, bringing up the error. Are they able to navigate to that folder you moved it to and open the PDF from there directly?

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