Child Item

My shortcut files in my Dropbox folder on Windows have stopped working

Dropbox Plan

Basic
Device

Acer Laptop
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)

Windows 11
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)

Files kept in Dropbox folder on each PC laptop

Question or Issue

Most of the file shortcuts on one of my laptops have stopped working. They have no associated icon, and when double-clicked, the destination file is not opened.

When I right-click on the Dropbox app icon at the bottom of the screen, above the Dropbox item, there was an item consisting of a mysterious series of symbol characters (see screen captures below). I have unpinned it from the list, but the problem still persists. I can open the shortcuts, however, via the Dropbox App. Thank you for your help. Greg

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Comments

Jay

Hi @GregP1, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

According to the link in the second image of the shortcut file, does the original file still exist at that location with the exact same name?

Is this the same for all the shortcut files, or only for files located in certain locations?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!

GregP1

I sent a reply by email, because the link in youe response didn't work ("Access Denied"), but I have now managed to reach this dialogue by searching your community website. This is the reply I sent:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Jay,

Thank you for your post.

Firstly, I am replying to your post by email. because, when I click on the link:

Re: My shortcut files in my Dropbox folder on Windows have stopped working

(https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001014/my-shortcut-files-in-my-dropbox-folder-on-windows-have-stopped-working/850699/replies/850707)

...I get the error message: "Access Denied: You do not have access to this area of the community or it doesn’t exist"

Please could you let me know why this might be?

Secondly - regarding the main issue:

The folder structures on both computers are identical. Both Dropbox folders are at: C:\Users\User\Dropbox

The hierarchical folder structures beneath that are also identical, because they are synchronised by Dropbox.

I have two laptop computers connected to my Dropbox: an ASUS and an Acer.

On the ASUS:

The shortcut is at: "C:\Users\User\Dropbox\0 Tutoring - GP\Agencies & Students\0 Current students\Rafael Spajić\005a Trig - 0 - LESSON PLAN - Shortcut.lnk"
Its target is: "C:\Users\User\Dropbox\0 Tutoring - GP\Subject Matter\Maths GCSE\Trig - 0 - LESSON PLAN.docx"
The target file is at that location

On the Acer:

The shortcut is at the same location
The Target type, Target location and Target fields are all blank – which is clearly why the shortcut doesn’t work
The target file is at the same location as on the ASUS, and when I browse to it and open it from File Explorer, the content is as on the ASUS.

So, for some reason, Dropbox is sometimes failing to transfer the shortcut properties from one device to another.

When I created the following shortcuts on the respective laptops, both shortcuts worked on both machines. Both target files are in the same folders as the one that originally failed.

I tried recreating the original shortcut on the ASUS. It worked this time.

But there are a number of other shortcuts on the Acer, that were created on the ASUS on different dates in the past (e.g. 15/06/2025) (targeting files in different folders) that don’t work, and others that do work. (See the screen capture below.) You can see from the associated icons, which shortcuts work and which ones don’t

This is seriously disrupting my capability to create lesson plans on my main computer, to be delivered on the computer that I use for my face-to-face lessons in a different office.

It is a very puzzling fault!

Sincerely, Greg

Jay

Thanks for the info. The shortcut files should be syncing across as normal, since Dropbox doesn't alter your files in any way.

As it does appear to be for random files from the screenshot you posted, and the target file in the shortcut is missing, you would need to recreate those shortcuts in order for them to sync to your other device correctly.

GregP1

Hi Jay. Thank for getting back to me. I create the shortcuts on one computer, and then deliver my lessons in a different office. So I need to have confidence in advance that my lessons are going to work. Is there any way that this fault can be diagnosed ant fixed?

Rich

GregP1 wrote:
On the ASUS:
The shortcut is at: "C:\Users\User\Dropbox\ ...

On the Acer:
The shortcut is at the same location

Out of curiosity, is your user folder on the ASUS really called "User" or are you replacing the actual folder name with User to hide it in this post? If it's not really User, is the folder name EXACTLY the same on the Acer, or are they different?

GregP1

Yes - on both machines, the folder is called "User". It's because that's what it was traditionally called in early Windows versions, and I have never changed it.