Child Item

Can't open any files from my Android phone

I got a new Android phone about three weeks ago. When I accessed my Dropbox files, I was able to open some and not others. Now I am unable to open any files on the phone. Instead, I receive this message: "This file can't be previewed. To open this file, try a computer or another app." They will not download, export, or be made available offline. However, I can open all the same files on my desktop computer with no problems. I also tried connecting to my Android Dropbox to my desktop Dropbox and starred the item to see if that would help. Still no success. Why can't I open the files on my phone? Thank you for your help.

Find more posts tagged with

Mobile

Error Messages

Preview

Android

AcceptAnswer

Accepted answers

Jay

It seems like the device itself isn't allowing the Dropbox app to access the internet to download files.

There is a possibility that a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router issues could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains.

I'd recommend checking all of these possibilities, and try connecting to a different WiFi network, or use cellular data, to see if there is any difference.

All comments

Mark

Do you have an appropriate application on your phone to open them?

jdt34

I have Microsoft Office on my phone, and it opens Word files outside of Dropbox just fine. My phone also opens PDFs outside of Dropbox with no problem. But within the Dropbox app, nothing opens.

jdt34

One more thing. On the Dropbox website I can open the same files with my phone that won't open in the app.

Megan

Hi @jdt34, let's see what we can find on this!

May I ask what OS and Dropbox app are installed on your device?

Can you check it and get back to me?

Thanks a lot!

jdt34

I have Android 12 and Dropbox app version 260.2.2.

Megan

Great. Thanks for the update, @jdt34!

Can you also send us a screenshot of what you see when trying to preview your Microsoft files?

jdt34

I'm not sure how to include a screenshot in this post; if you explain how to do it, I'd be happy to. But regardless of the file I open, it tries for about a minute before I finally get the message "This file can't be previewed. To open this file, try a computer or another app."

Megan

You should be able to click the little camera icon on your response and attach your file there.

Does that happen with specific file types only?

Feel free to also have a look at this Help Center article.

jdt34

I'm sorry, but there is no camera icon on my respone. I can copy and paste any text, but I find no option to attach an image.

The only file types I have are docx, pdf, and xls. I can't open any of them with my phone. The file sizes range from 6-170 KB, which is well below the limits outlined in the article you recommended.

Jay

Hi @jdt34, could you try offlining the files first in the mobile app and then try to preview them?

jdt34

I have tried that, but the download progress never advances from 0.0%, and when the downward-pointing arrow finally appears next to the document name, I am still unable to preview the file.

Jay

jdt34

Thank you! Switching from Wi-Fi to my mobile network did the trick immediately! I will have to investigate the issue with my Wi-Fi to see what is going on.

Ben

Can't open .txt files created before by my smartphone of Samsung Note 10.

Even updated my dropbox but the problem still exists.
Needed to select account to open the txt files and spent much much time to open.

Megan

Hey @Ben, how are you today?

Do you have an app on your phone that you can use to open them?

Also, do you get any errors when trying to open them, and if so, can you send us a screenshot?

Keep me posted!

Ben

I'm using app. Will try to offline mode and see anythings becoming normal. Thx

vinceortega

I switched to mobile data and i still can't preview a 760mb excel file from an android phone. The same file can be previewed from dropbox in iOS (and computer) so it is not corrupted. I can open other excel files on my android. Any help would be appreciated.

Megan

Hi @vinceortega, happy Monday!

Do you get any specific errors when you try to preview that file? Are you using the mobile app, or accessing Dropbox directly using the browser on your phone?

Let me know more!

vinceortega

Hi @Megan, it is just a blank screen using the Android mobile app. I haven’t tried the web browser yet. I have deleted and re-installed the app already and got the same behavior.

Hannah

Sorry to jump in here, @vinceortega!

Does the whole screen go blank when you open the file, or does the file itself appear to be empty, as if it has no contents?

Have you tried clearing the cache from the app's settings, to see if that makes any difference?

vinceortega

@Hannah, the page is pitch black. It doesn’t appear empty which may look like cells with empty fields. And, yes, I have tried clearing the cache. As mentioned previously, I even deleted the app from my Android phone. Thanks for looking into this.

Megan

Hi @vinceortega, could you send me a screenshot, please? It'd help me to have a visual of this too.

Thanks!

vinceortega

Hi @Megan, see attached and let me know if you need anything else.

Walter

Hey @vinceortega, sorry to jump in here, but have you cleared the app's cache at all since you first noticed this?

vinceortega

Hi @Walter, yes, the app's cache has been cleared prior to the screenshot I provided.

Walter

Have you tried exporting it to another app to preview it from there @vinceortega?

Also, can you maybe offline this file and try again?

vinceortega

@Walter - Export to Excel app works. I can open the downloaded file successfully.

From Dropbox app preview, it does not work on both offline setting of on and off.

Hannah

Hey Vince, it seems that this behavior is kind of expected, with files that are as large as the one in question.

I'm glad, however, that exporting it, allows you to view it as normal.

For larger files like this, another workaround would also be our desktop application.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

vinceortega

Hi Hannah, my mistake. File size is 760kb and not mb. Anyway, yes export works and the only workaround for this.

Julesa01

I sent saved photos to DB from S10 android phone. Could view the photos on the day, now comes with error message. Can open on my laptop but cant open files sent from IPhone. Have to open with Paint App.

Please help. This randomly started a couple months ago, some jpegs not being recognised. Takes too long to open files this way.