Child Item

.xlsx files are supported but something went wrong

Hi there,

I see this has been asked several times before, but my issue has still not been resolved.

I have recently not been able to open this file, but keep getting this error message.

The file is password-protected and is 377.5kb in size, I am trying to access it from the web (not dropbox app) on my desktop and my mobile.

The file is not corrupt, because if I download it, it opens fine. I simply want to open and view it yet it does not work. I have downloaded it and uploaded a copy but I'm still getting the same error.

It works perfectly fine through the dropbox app.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Find more posts tagged with

Error Messages

Web

Preview

AcceptAnswer

Closed - Not for right now

Accepted answers

Hannah C

Hi GigiB1,

Jumping in here to note that we found that we actually cannot support password protected Office files on Dropbox at this time. The problem is that we are asking the users to input their password then saying there is an issue. We are looking to do the following to resolve this issue:

1. Show the correct error message -- that password protected Office files cannot be previewed. Downloading the file to preview is recommended at this time.

2. We are also looking into if and when we can support password protected Office files on Dropbox though at this time, I'm unable to say when.

Thank you for flagging this issue and my apologies for the inconvenience. I definitely understand that download to preview is not ideal.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or ideas. Happy to help!

Hannah

All comments

Nancy

Hi @GigiB1! Hope you’re doing great.

The issue here may be that the file is password-protected, but let's have a look.

Can you upload a full screenshot of what you see on your end? I’d like to have a visual and check this further.

Also, is this the only Excel file you’re having trouble with? Are the rest previewing properly on the Dropbox website, even if they're password-protected?

Ping me, when you’ve got more info.

GigiB1

Hi Nancy,

Hope you are well too. Thank you for your reply.

The message I am getting is as per below:

Other Excel documents are opening fine. I have just tried opening another Excel file with a password and I get the same message.

So you are quite right it could very well be the password protection that is causing this.

But how come it was not happening before?

Nancy

Thanks for giving that a go, @GigiB1! Do you perhaps remember when this started happening more or less?

GigiB1

About 4 weeks ago.

Walter

Hey @GigiB1 - sorry to jump in here, but could you try clearing your browser's cache or using another browser and let us know if you get the same results?

If you do, can you check if this is the only file that's affected or if there are others as well?

Hannah C

Hi GigiB1,

1. Show the correct error message -- that password protected Office files cannot be previewed. Downloading the file to preview is recommended at this time.

2. We are also looking into if and when we can support password protected Office files on Dropbox though at this time, I'm unable to say when.

Thank you for flagging this issue and my apologies for the inconvenience. I definitely understand that download to preview is not ideal.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or ideas. Happy to help!

Hannah

GigiB1

Thank you for you email and detailed steps.
One question though is how come this was working before?
Something has clearly changed.

Nancy

Hi again, @GigiB1! Files that are password-protected on third-party apps aren’t generally supported on Dropbox when it comes to previewing (you can also see more details here). So, this shouldn’t be working previously either.

As mentioned by Hannah above though, our team is looking into this and potentially changing this in the future.

GigiB1

Many thanks, Nancy and team.

Will early await for future changes to be implemented.

winnieB

I've got the same message on Samsung pc Windows 11. My backup is several years old for that excel file. I try two recent pw's but neither works. Have no idea how it may have been changed.

winnieB

Only one other excel file in that folder opens but is not pw protected. Having trouble getting dropbox to work on my phone but that is user error. The affected excel file contains all my pw's so am reluctant to download it. Looks like I am pretty screwed...

-winston

Walter

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

Can you please let us know if this file is a shared one or if you're the original owner?

Are you able to preview it on the website normally or on your devices after downloading or exporting the file locally?