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darylkooi's avatar
darylkooi
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago

Unable to open ANYTHING on dropbox

Hi, my company has recently shifted all our files over to dropbox. Now whenever I try to access a file via my comp, I get the error message "Excel cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension mateches the format of the file". This error appears for word documents and PDF documents as well. Essentially, I am unable to access anything on dropbox.

However, if I use dropbox's browser, I am able to access the same files. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. 

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  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    I've just sent you an email so we can work on this together darylkooi - take a look at your inbox for my message (ticket ID: 8789801 ) and we'll take it from there. 

    Thanks!

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Sorry to hear about this darylkooi - could you tell me the status of our app on your affected computer? Is it "up to date" or still syncing changes? Also, could you share a screenshot of the exact error message you get so I can have a visual of the problem too?

    Thanks in advance!

    • darylkooi's avatar
      darylkooi
      Explorer | Level 3
      6 years ago

      Hi there, thanks for the quick response! The dropbox status says it's up to date. I've attached an image to show the error messages, thank you once again. 

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        6 years ago

        Thanks for the screenshot darylkooi - most appreciated.

        As I'd need a more in depth look into this with all of my tools available, would it be OK if I reached out via email to the address you use for your forum's profile so we can work on this together? 

        While we're at it, are you using Smart Sync by any chance? I'm only asking because if you do, I'd like to know if this happens with files that you have set to be local and/or Online only. 

        In any case, please keep me posted Daryl.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago

    Hi coutom3; thanks for joining our discussion.

     

    I'm not quite sure what did the trick for  or  at the end, but usually this happens when you try to access files that have been set to 'Online Only' through our Smart Sync feature and it should go away by marking the files that give you errors to 'Local' first. 

     

    If that's the case indeed, please give it a go (marking those files as Local and waiting for our app to show 'Up to date' within your system tray/menu bar) before accessing them) when you get the chance and let me know how it goes! 

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