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Blank word word document after saving

A client has a word doc that is saved in dropbox shared folder. She simply opens the document and renames it creating a new file. The new file is then saved to the same location as the previous file. However, the new is blank. This has been happening intermittently over the past week. The user can ooen the file and saved it locally with an issue.

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Microsoft Office

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Jay

Hi @da1whoknks, thanks for joining the Community!

Could you clarify if they’re saving it via the Dropbox site, or using the Word app on the machine?

Does it only occur for this document, or any other Word doc, and are they the only user to experiencing this?

Keep me posted!

da1whoknks

The user is saving it via the word app on the machine. It occurs for other word docs intermittenly. She is the only user that has this issue.

Daphne

Thanks for clarifying that @da1whoknks!

As they're using the local app on their computer, and this app is the one that processes the rename and saving of the file, it may be that the issue lies with the Microsoft Word app they have installed on their computer.

I'd suggest making sure that the app is up to date, or even reinstalling the app to see if that does the trick.

If not, then they may need to reach out to Microsoft Support to see if they can assist further with the file not being saved properly.

I hope this info helps!

janvdw

Hi,

I have the exact same problem with one of my users on Windows 10 (last updates installed), Office 365 and DropBox (version 107.4.443). Open a Word document in a DropBox folder, save it under a different name in the same folder, and intermittently it will not save, without any warning.

When turning off the DropBox app, the problem disappears.

Has there been a clear answer yet to what causes this problem?

Best regards,

Jan

Daphne

Thanks for joining us here @janvdw!

Can you let me know if this occurs only within the Dropbox folder?

If possible, can you see if this happens at all outside of the Dropbox folder while the app is running and not?

Marseebar

Has anyone found a solution??

This has just started occurring to my client... exactly as described.

the MS office app save the file desktop's synced Dropbox folder. the file is saved blank 0kb and yes it appears in Dropbox cloud... aslo blank with 0kb ... there is no version history ... there is no recovery document in Word.

Jay

Hi @Marseebar, does this occur when you save files anywhere outside the Dropbox folder.

If you quit the desktop app and then save a file, does it save correctly?

jmaura

Found this in searching for the exact same problem. Windows 10, Word 2019 Application, saves document from word (Save As) places in dropbox folder. Then goes back, document has 0KB blank document. Saving in other locations seem to work fine, But dropbox is the main saving location.

CharlieE

Same problem for me - wrote a 3000 word MS Word document last week. Saved to DB via the desktop app, using Windows 10 computer with Office 365 (fully up to date). Gone back in today and the file is 0kb with no version history. Saved 100s of files to DB previously without problem. Confusing . . .

cornelrules

Same problem here. After changing the default location all word saved files are fine, but the default location used to be Dropbox. Any idea when this issue will got fixed?

Thank you!

Walter

Hey there @cornelrules, thanks for joining the discussion here.

I'm not quite sure about the issue at hand. Could you clarify what exactly is troubling you?

cornelrules

Walter,

This is on a Windows 10, Word 365 Application, saves document from word (Save As) places in dropbox folder. Then goes back, document has 0KB blank document. Saving in other locations seem to work fine, But dropbox is the main saving location (for sync and backup). After changing the default location, the issue is gone, but we'll looking forward to re-enble save as to Dropbox.

Thank you.

cornelrules

Also good to know: When save as to Dropbox, the document is not keeping the saved name. For ex, if we save the file as "TestFile.docx", in dropbox folder this will appear as "Document1.docx". The next saved file will be "Document2.docx" and so on. This is the name that we're seeing also in Word when saving the file. When saving to a different location the saved file will get the desired name, and the file is saved accordingly.

Walter

Could you quit our desktop app and try again @cornelrules?

Let me know if you still receive the same error with our app closed and we'll take it from there.

cornelrules

We had already tried, and while the Dropbox app is closed the file is correctly saved on the HDD. After starting Dropbox app, saving to the very same location won't work any more.

Walter

In that case, could you please reinstall both apps and let me know if the issue persists @cornelrules?

Let me know if it does and I'll send you an email to investigate further.

cornelrules

Hi Walter,

We have reinstalled the Office packet (we tried the 32 and 64 bit version) and also Dropbox app, but the issue still persist. Any other ideas?

Much appreciated.

Jay

Hi @cornelrules, although you mentioned you use Save as, is the autosave option also enabled in Word 365?

If you pause syncing, and not quit the Dropbox app, does the issue persist?

jmaura

So uninstalled office 365 and dropbox.. installed office, installed all updates, installed dropbox, enabled dropbox office feature. The issue seemed to go away for about 2 weeks and happening again. Turning off sync kind of defeats the purpose of using dropbox.