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Why are my files corrupt?

I have JUST noticed today that MANY files on my dropbox are corrupt. Some are new, some are 4 years old. I click on it, it says "Word unable to read this document. It may be corrupt."

WHAT is going on? How do I stop this infection? Can I save any of these files?

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Jay

Hi @Cbrown1221, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Are you viewing this on the Dropbox site, mobile app, or on your computer?

What version of Word are you using to preview the files?

This will help me to assist further!

Cbrown1221

I am viewing this on my computer. I am using

Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2312 Build 16.0.17126.20132) 64-bit

Jay

Do any of the files preview on the Dropbox site? Is there any version history on them to show that they were changed?

Cbrown1221

They do not preview on Dropbox. There are no previous versions available. Details are unavailable for the selected file.

There's gotta be 50-100 of these in my dropbox.

Jay

It sounds like the files are corrupted somehow. If there's no version history on them, it could mean that they were originally uploaded corrupted, or it's outside the recovery period.

Cbrown1221

These files range in time from last week to 3 years ago. If they had been uploaded wrong, it seems it would have occurred years ago. Dropbox seems the common denominator. I have subfolders, and NONE of the documents in the subfolders are corrupt. In addition, some of the corrupted files are PDFs . . . and I scanned those in.

Jay

Is it possible that the files were affected by ransomware or any malware on your machine?

Are these files in private or shared folders?

Cbrown1221

These are in shared folders. I share dropbox with two people I don't know of any malware - I will run my McAfee

Cbrown1221

I did a search and did not find any malware or viruses or anything

Jay

Thanks for the info. The only thing I can recommend is trying to recover any previous versions of the files from their version history, if they have any.

Without that, even our team wouldn't be able to assist further.

Cbrown1221

The files are so corrupt that they are not even recognized when I try to delete them. I don't think recovering old versions is a possibility

Bullwheel

don't know if this is the same problem but when I try to open .jpg files in File Explorer I get no image and a "photos can't open because the format is unsupported". and yet they are fine in the dropbox app.

Walter

Hey @Bullwheel - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you clarify if those files are online only or available offline on your computer?

Have you tried another program to open them perhaps?