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mike160304's avatar
mike160304
Collaborator | Level 9
7 years ago

Cannot edit some text files in Dropbox on iPhone?

In the Dropbox app on iPhone SE, I can open all my text files, but in some of them I do not get the Edit icon (looks like a cursor) at bottom left, so cannot edit them.   In others, I get the Edi...
  • Cardinal2B's avatar
    Cardinal2B
    7 years ago

    K-C-L (and others following)

    Thanks! You're onto the right cause, and solution ...well, workaround.

    Dropbox App editor won't handle either certain characters (extended) or Windows Notepad default ANSI files. A pretty obvious shortcoming.  These get rendered in a non-editable file - which looks like monospaced courier, but doesn't make a space for each <spacebar>. Go figure.

     

    Anyway, the workarounds are:

    - Convert all your Notepad ANSI files to UTF-8 (open file in Notepad, Save As..., dropdown box -> choose UTF-8 and Save. (Save all new files as UTF-8). This is what I am doing.

    - Open the file in Dropbox App. Select a word, then Select All. Copy. Create new file (Text). Paste into the window, name, and Create. Kinda klugy.

    Those both work - I've tested.

    - There is a way to change Notepad default to UTF-8, which would prevent this from re-occurring, but you have to touch the Registry (I don't want to do that)

    - Download Notepad++ which apparently can set a default without touching the Registry (cannot verify). Reportedly Notepad++ takes less resources too (don't know about that either)

     

    OK, a PITA. But do-able. I guess.

     

    But, the real problem is Dropbox App cannot show text files (.txt) in monospaced font (e.g. Menlo or Courier). This is basically a disqualifier for Dropbox for musicians who use text files to create Tab, or Notation files, or chord charts. That's a lot of people left out in the cold. Since they all share files, so Dropbox could / should own this market, but have shut themselves out.

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