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Error message: Cannot open this file. Access denied.

I cannot open files within one of my folders on my desktop app. I get the error message "There was an error opening this file. Access denied." I am able to open the files in this folder on the web or on my home laptop, but not at my work PC. My boss is also having the same issue. I checked the number of pathways thinking that might be it, but if I go to another folder with the same amount of pathways, I don't have any issues.

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JamieCarr0520

Hi everyone. It turns out that the file path was way too long. We shortened a bunch of the folder names and that seemed to work! Thanks for all the help.

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Chris_J

Hello Jamie

Thanks for reaching out to the Community. I would say, you have a permissions issue. Please see these solutions in this Help Center Article

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall

let us know if this fixes it.

JamieCarr0520

Hi Chris, I have checked and it says I have full permissions. I discovered I am actually able to open the excel files in that folder but not the PDF files. As I said, my boss is having the same issue. Oddly enough, we don't experience this issue at our home laptops.

Hannah

Hey @JamieCarr0520, is this error message coming from Dropbox or from your computer's OS?

Can you please send us a screenshot, so we can have a visual too?

Thanks!

JamieCarr0520

Please see attached screen shot. I have also determined that it is only PDF files that will not open from this specific folder. I can open excel no problem. It has now happened on my work computer, home laptop, and my bosses computer.

Rich

@JamieCarr0520 wrote:
I have also determined that it is only PDF files that will not open from this specific folder. I can open excel no problem. It has now happened on my work computer, home laptop, and my bosses computer.

Go to the folder directly in Explorer. Right-click the file(s) and select Make available offline. Give it a minute to sync then try to open the file in Adobe again. Any change?

JamieCarr0520

I do not have the option "Make Available Offline"

JamieCarr0520

FYI, I can go onto a browser, open the documents no problem, and even download the document to my laptop and open it. I can even copy the document from that folder, move it to a different folder, and open it. The issue is only occurring when I try to open that specific document from that folder.

Chris_J

Jamie

I have the feeling that this may be an Acrobat setting issue. I use Acrobat extensively in my line of work. You stated that sometime, you can open the PDF on a specific computer, right? Could you check to see what Presets or settings the application that you use to create the PDF is correct or change it to see if this fixes it? I don't know if you are using Adobe InDesign or another app to create the PDF.

Can you tell us what application you and your boss are using to create the PDFs?

I edited this reply and now think this would not help. See my latest reply

Chris_J

Thanks for elaborating here on your problem. Question: you stated that you have full permissions, how do you know? did you do what the article that I've linked suggested?

it says specific procedures to cure permissions issues. I don't know if you are using Windows or Mac but it certainly helps

JamieCarr0520

Hi everyone. It turns out that the file path was way too long. We shortened a bunch of the folder names and that seemed to work! Thanks for all the help.

Chris_J

Thanks for letting us know. this will help someone in the future if they have the same issue

Happy Dropboxing