Child Item

"This file has been moved" error when trying to open Excel files in the Dropbox folder

Integration Affected
Microsoft 365 (specifically Excel)

Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Windows 11

Question or Issue
One of our users started getting errors yesterday when trying to open Excel documents that are stored within the Dropbox folder. The file opens, but brings up the following error:

The file has not been moved, nobody else has this problem currently. It only happens when the file is within the dropbox folder on her computer. If we copy the file to a location outside of dropbox, it's fine.

Searching the internet, it seems people who use Box (which I'm assuming is similar to Dropbox), are starting to have the same problem. It was reported in their community beginning on Nov 25, 2025 and more and more people are replying to it complaining of the same issue. A few different "fixes" were suggested by their IT which did not fix the problem and yesterday they say they have determined that it's a bug related to the latest Seamless Login release from Microsoft. Just throwing this out there in case it helps the issue to be resolved with Dropbox quicker.

So far, only one of our team members is having this issue. Please help.

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Accepted answers

RB_Construction

I contacted Dropbox support and got this as a response.

Tommy, Dec 14, 2025, 11:35 PM PST:
Hi there,

Thanks for contacting Dropbox Support! My name is Tommy, and I'll be happy to assist you with your request.

From what I understand, you'd like to inquire in regards to an issue with opening Microsoft Excel files.

I’m happy to share that the Excel issue you reported has now been resolved by Microsoft and should be working properly.

If you continue to experience any problems, please ensure that your Microsoft Office 365/Excel application is fully up to date.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please let us know if you encounter any further issues, or if you have any other Dropbox questions.

Regards,
Tommy | Dropbox Support

I personally haven't been experiencing this issue any longer, so hopefully this means everything is working now!

All comments

Hannah

Hey @L_Carper, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community and for letting us know about this.

Let's see what we can find!

When this error comes up, is the file set to "online-only" or "available offline?

Could anybody else be working on the same file at the same time as this user?

Also, since this is happening with other apps apart from Dropbox, have you reached out to Microsoft to let them know as well?

Keep me posted!

L_Carper

It happens regardless if the file is available online only or offline. We have confirmed that nobody else is accessing the file.

I have posted in the Microsoft community as well.

We have determined that when we click Save, it does actually save the file but pops the error up again. If we choose Later, it puts the error at the top of the screen and then when you close you are prompted to save.

RB_Construction

I have been experiencing this same issue. I started by killing Dropbox in Task Manager and reopening it. This fixed the issue temporarily, but I experienced it again today. This time I opened Control Panel and ran an online repair on Microsoft 365; this also seemed to fix the issue, but I'm not sure if it will be permanent. I also noticed I had an outdated version of Dropbox, so I uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox. I hope this helps!

Hannah

Thanks for the update @L_Carper and @RB_Construction.

I really appreciate you posting what fixed this for you, @RB_Construction, and hopefully that will be it, but let us know if the issue comes back.

As for you, @L_Carper, can you also try what @RB_Construction tried, to see if that fixes things for your user?

If not, can they quit the Dropbox app and check if the issue persists with the app closed?

L_Carper

Thank you both.

Yesterday, I tried a quick repair of Microsoft 365 but per your suggestion, I did the online repair today and it still did not help.

However, if I turn off the Dropbox app, everything opens just fine with no errors even if the file is within the Dropbox folder. Once I turn the app back on, the errors return.

RB_Construction

Unfortunately, after everything resynced in my Dropbox, the error returned.

Quitting the Dropbox app also did not help.

The only solution I have is to end all instances of Dropbox through the Task Manager. 🤷

Jay

Hi @RB_Construction, @L_Carper, at this point it might be better for the support team to look into this in more detail.

You can contact them directly via this link, and they'll be able to investigate further.

John_Bruno

I have been encountering this issue for weeks.

Ham3945

Here same issue, I read suggestions that the path would be to long for Excel???

Should we change to Onedrive from Microsoft?

DUNGLYLAN

Yesterday, i have the same issue, we try the same things:

Update Microsoft office to the latest version 365
Update dropbox to the last version after uninstall it from the dropbox.com site
We verify the hard drive has enough space for synchronize the files.
Delete the data on the recycle bin
Restart the computer after ever installation

Results:

After update the office - same problem continue for the files in all dropbox of excel the user make and show the links to update some data are no good.

After update the dropbox- start working good and we can open the files with out the label this file have been moved, saved it now for we can finish the move

After look the harddrive we look only 33 gb available and we clean the data as most posible

and delete the trash bin, we clean more that 700gb . same issue continue

So we are still having the same issue

We will try now to change the folder of Dropbox to avoid indexing wrong , lets se if it works.

Making just the change of folder, fail, because the same folders move to the same place and the problem remains.

Now i will try to make a new installation and put a new folder not the same .

Nop same error arrived again

DUNGLYLAN

I found a way to avoid the problem just momentary until we get a solution from Microsoft or Dropbox,

If you open an excel file on the computer all good

If you move the file to any Dropbox folder it show the error again
"This file has been moved"

But, if you open the file on Dropbox online, from there to the excel on the web, and from there to the excel on your desktop, on some way it works with no problem and you can save the files good.

the 3 steps to avoid the error

step 1 on your explorer go to the file you need to work and make right button

step 2 open on dropbox.com

step 3 open on excel for web

open on desktop in desktop

The file will let you work normally.

For reopen repeat the same steps.

Let me know if you have another solution please!!!!

kgrissom67

I have also started having this issue. Does anyone know if this is causing files not to save correctly across the team?

Dell_Dropbox

Hey everyone, we've been looking into this issue and we'd love your help in flagging this to Microsoft if you've been affected. You can do that by:

Open a Microsoft Office app.
Click the icon in the top right corner.
Select "Report a problem."
Describe your issue and include the hashtag #cspp-dropbox-filename-encoding-error

This will allow Microsoft to search for the exact logs and investigate the issue.

moon09

As a workaround, you can enable auto-save feature via Options -> Save -> "AutoSave files stored in the Cloud by default in Excel" and that message won't appear, however, it doesn't explain the root cause of the issue.

kenFio

I was having the same problem. Solved it.

Go to File > Account > Connected Services:

Remove "Dropbox for Teams"

Restart Excel

L_Carper

I'm unsure if Microsoft did another update or what, but my user said everything seems to be working now and she didn't make any changes. It seems to have resolved itself. Sorry I can't help anyone who is still experiencing the same issue.

RB_Construction

I contacted Dropbox support and got this as a response.

Tommy, Dec 14, 2025, 11:35 PM PST:
Hi there,

Thanks for contacting Dropbox Support! My name is Tommy, and I'll be happy to assist you with your request.

From what I understand, you'd like to inquire in regards to an issue with opening Microsoft Excel files.

I’m happy to share that the Excel issue you reported has now been resolved by Microsoft and should be working properly.

If you continue to experience any problems, please ensure that your Microsoft Office 365/Excel application is fully up to date.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please let us know if you encounter any further issues, or if you have any other Dropbox questions.

Regards,
Tommy | Dropbox Support

I personally haven't been experiencing this issue any longer, so hopefully this means everything is working now!