I open my document in microsoft word online version of Dropbox and I would like to edit it using my desktop app. How can I do this? There is no function for opening it in word desktop version.
Hi @Sherly, thanks for reaching out to us here!
Through the Word Online app, there wouldn't be an option to open the file locally for editing.
To open your files in the local Microsoft apps for editing, you can use the Dropbox desktop app to sync your files locally to your computer. You can check out more info about the desktop app here.
It will create a local Dropbox folder on your computer which will sync any changes with your account online. This will allow you to open the files in local apps for editing and the changes you make with sync with your Dropbox account.
Let me know if this helps!
But previously, in the browser view of dropbox, there was an option to 'open in Word desktop.' Similarly, there was an option to 'show in finder.' Have these features intentionally been removed?
When someone emails me a video file with a dropbox link, I click it and it opens a window in my browser (Chrome). I can preview the video. Up in the top left, there are two buttons, Share and Open. Both have a drop down arrow. For Open, I used to click the drop down arrow and I would see "Open in File Explorer" or something like that. When I clicked it, it opened the folder with the file location in Windows 10 File Explorer.
It is now gone. All I have are "Connect Apps".
The Dropbox app is running on my system. I'm logged into the browser and the app with the same DB account. I restarted the system.
Thoughts?
Hi there @acboydston; happy Friday and thanks for joining this discussion.
Could you clarify if you're not seeing the Open button on our website at all or if you're not getting the results you'd like?
On that note, can you take a look at your Connected Apps tab as well as the default ones and let us know what you find there?
Thanks!
Hi Walter,
My entire organization is having the same problem. We all have the "open" button (next to "share") when we open a link to the doc/ppt/excel, and that used to list an option called "Open in Word" /PowerPoint/Excel but that is gone and we only have the edit online version.
Our connected apps only shows "Microsoft office online"
Yes, the open button is present and works find.
There used to be an option to open in desktop Word. Now this is only an option to open in Word for the web.
Connect aps:
Default aps:
Thanks.
Hi there @missionstudios, thanks for checking in with us.
Out of curiosity, is the video file sent to you as a shared file, in a shared link, or as part of a shared folder?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Trying to open a file save in dropbox as an excel file. It won't give me the excel option in the drop down anymore
Hi everyone,
I'm sorry if the answer here is obvious, I'm a little new to this. I recall, just a few weeks ago, that when I opened a Dropbox link (a link to one of my files), it would give me the option to open the file in the desktop app. That is, once I clicked on the link it would open in my browser. From there I could click on the "open" button on the top right and it would let me open it in the Dropbox desktop app. Now, when I click "open" three's only a place to "Connect apps".
Am I misremembering? Or did I mess something up? I'm on a Mac running the most recent Dropbox desktop app.
Hi @Jimmy2343; welcome to our Community and happy Monday!
Are you referring to a shortcut to a file of yours or maybe a shared link?
Could you please let me know if you get any different results after clearing your browser's cache and/or on another browser?
In the meantime, you can search for the file locally on your computer and access it from there.
Keep me posted anyhow!
Good morning, I am getting the exact same issue on the Mac - we have a cross-platform company, so we are constantly sharing files via "dropbox links" so we can find the right file in the right location. I used to click "show in Finder" and it is no longer there, it has broken our workflow as the item just disappeared. I have updated my dropbox to v106.04.368 and I am on the latest chrome Version 85.0.4183.121.
Would love to get some help on where this valuable feature has moved to.
Hey anonymous - thanks for joining us on this discussion, and it's great to hear from you again.
Are you not getting the "Open" option for all files or specific ones?
For those that you can't see the button for, do you see them locally on your computer?
Keep me posted!
Yes, I have them locally on my machine. Multiple users from our company are experiencing these issues.
Hi,
We're still having the same issues, and we're not getting the ability to open in the desktop app for any of our Office suite documents.
They are still visible in the desktop app, but you can't search by link in the app so (with our very complicated file structure) they are hard for us to navigate to.
Hey everyone, thanks for your ongoing reports on this.
I just wanted to let you know that the team is aware and working on the matter.
As soon as we have an update on the matter, we'll get back to you.
Thanks again!
Hi there, thanks for the reply!
I cleared the cache on the browser, and I tried in two others. It's the same. I have TONS of research PDFs. I'm using Airtable to organize them (I paste the Dropbox link in the spreadsheet). It has been working wonderfuly up until yesterday. I'm not sure what the issue is.
As an update to this - it came back for about a day and now the issue is back
At this moment, I see the two, previously missing opionts, 'open in Microsoft Word' and 'Show in Finder.' Hopefully, they stick around!
Yes, same here. It worked for a day or two, but not now.
I have setup dropbox for business for a client and they now have members of staff working from home on their own PCs. They should be able to open dropbox files from a browser login and work remotely without having the company dropbox account linked and downloaded on their PC.Please tell me this is a software issue and not a "feature" as people who have Microsoft office installed should not have to rely on online versions of this software to open their own files.I can't accept that as an "accepted solution". Can someone from Dropbox please clarify if this is the case going forwards or will this be fixed.
Here's what I've been using for years on dropbox.com:
'Open in Microsoft Word' and 'Show in Finder' are brilliant features. As expected, the document is opened by desktop Word. The initial accepted response is incorrect--docs are supposed to be opened in desktop Word from the browser. (Unless DB is sunsetting this feature) These two options disappeared for me for some weeks and recently returned.
@Lusil Hi there, any update on this?
I'm afraid that there's no update yet that I'm aware of, @Jimmy2343.
If you haven't already, I'd recommend submitting a ticket to our team, so that they can look into this with you personally.
If you have any trouble doing this though, just give us another nudge and we'll be more than happy to send you one.
Thanks again, everyone!
I have the same problem! I want to open it in Word not "Word for the web"
Dropbox desktop app integration is going backwards. It just about works on Windows after allowing it to update the 'open' buttons after opening the files in the (rather basic) web version of a MS app. 10 minutes later, if I'm very lucky, an 'open in (a) desktop app' option appears.
On Macs it's a mess, doesn't work despite my best eforts and promises of platform neutrality.
I'm ☹️ to say that despite DBs best efforts at intergration using DropBox is becoming too cumbersome for much more than transferring files. Why use DropBox when the useful functionality with desktop apps is better implemented and built into OneDrive, Google Drive and iCloud.
With DB, I'm restricted to three devices on the desktop and productivity apps are clunky to say the least. The appeal of DB is evaporating fast in the growing face of once absent compettition.
Perhaps it's time the world moved on…
The "here" link doesn't work.
Our team has multiple platforms in house. We use the "dropbox" link all the time to send files through Slack. This typically lets me view the file in the web and then "show file in Finder or Explorer" depending on OS. This stopped working 2 days ago. Now when I click, it shows me the file on dropbox.com not within my local system. This doesn't help me as I need to open and edit the file, so now I am forced to trace down the file path.
With both windows and mac in one office, this was a key way of how we worked, why was this removed?
