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Error (415) when trying to preview .html files that show as 0 bytes

I have a Notebooks app on iPhone and MacBook which saves text files as .html. The files are stored on Dropbox. I have just noticed that around ten of my files which have been created in the last 10 months are now showing as zero bytes. When I try to open the file via the dropbox website it gives an error message (see below). No prior versions are showing on version history too. Not sure if I will continue to use Dropbox if I'm going to be losing files like this??

Error (415)

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Hannah

Hey @bgovindji, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

I'm sorry to see you're having trouble with this.

When did you originally sync these files to your Dropbox? And were you able to access and open them before?

If you right click on one of those files in your Dropbox folder, do you see a 'make available offline' or 'make online-only' option you can click, to see if that makes any difference?

Keep me posted.

bgovindji

Hi Hannah thank you for replying so quickly. I make notes using an iPhone and Mac app called 'Notebooks', this immediately syncs with Dropbox so the files would have been synced multiple times even while I was typing them. The oldest note with this issue is from February this year. And yes I have been able to open and access the notes in the past.

I don't see an option to make available offline or online only - I have attached the options that I do see. Am I looking in the right place? Screenshot 2022-12-21 at 08.55.16.png

Jay

Hi @bgovindji, if the files are 0 bytes, this means there's literally no data in them, so no program would be able to preview the files. Essentially, the files were deleted by having all the code in the file deleted.

Do you see any edit history for those files in the events page?

bgovindji

The events page has A LOT of entries in there as the Notebooks app I have syncs in real time with dropbox. It's not possible to scroll through looking for edits that have been made to a note that e.g. I created in August. One of the files which is now showing as 0 bytes was created on 29th august. In the Finder on my MacBook, it shows that the file was created on 29th:

Screenshot 2022-12-22 at 15.33.31.png

When I look on the events page it shows as the note being added on 30th August:

Screenshot 2022-12-22 at 15.30.58.png

Overlooking the difference in date, is there a way to search the events page for events related to this note? As mentioned earlier, there is no version history showing for the note:

Screenshot 2022-12-22 at 15.37.35.png

Mark

0 byte files on a Mac are created as place holders by many applications when doing things like a save etc. - these sync quickly to Dropbox 'cause they are empty. Once they then populate they sync to Dropbox again but this often takes time if they are large. This then can cause issues if syncing is stopped/account is over quota etc. because the 'actual' file then never uploads.

Version history will only be available if they have been edited within the past 30 days (assuming you are a free user) or 180 if paid.

I dont believe there is a way to search events based upon any criteria youve asked for I'm afraid