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Can't open files in desktop app

I can see all my files but none of them will open in my desktop app. I restarted my laptop and that didn't work. Now I'm trying to uninstall the app and it won't uninstall. Any suggestions?

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Lori S

Hi Walter! Thanks for responding. I wasn't getting any error messages at all. Just, nothing happened when I tried to open a file. I finally uninstalled and reinstalled the app and it's working now.

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Walter

Hey @Lori S; thanks for posting on our Community!

Can you please let me know if you're getting any specific errors and if so, send us a screenshot so that we can have a look too?

Thanks!

Lori S

Hi Walter! Thanks for responding. I wasn't getting any error messages at all. Just, nothing happened when I tried to open a file. I finally uninstalled and reinstalled the app and it's working now.

Walter

Ah nice; glad to hear that, Lori.

If you have any Dropbox questions, don't hesitate to give us a nudge. We'll be just one post away!

JLPCNY

I am having the same issue with my desktop application.

Walter

Hey @JLPCNY; thanks for joining our discussion here.

Can you please reboot your computer and let me know if this persists?

In case you're getting a specific error, I'd appreciate a screenshot too.

RGAtn

I haven't used my Dropbox for a while, many of the files are MS Office files from 2012-14 (Word, Excel, PPT, etc). Others are .jpg and DSCN photos. The files are all displayed, but I can't open any of them. The message says "cannot open, doesn't recognize file, may have been corrupted, etc". Is this a file version problem, or what? How can I recover these files?

Lusil

Hey @RGAtn, thanks for nudging us here.

Could you send us a screenshot of the error message?

Have the files you're trying to open fully synced locally?

RGAtn

The files are only in Dropbox, they are not on the desktop computer. That’s what I ‘m trying to do, is transfer them to a new desktop machine

Walter

In that case, did you follow the steps outlined here?

If so, can you confirm that the app is fully synced and showing 'up to date' in your menu bar/system tray?

Thanks for any updates @RGAtn!

GHiggins

Trying to open a PDF

Trying to open image.

My app is synced and I'm able to open these files when navigating to the dropbox website. Here is the appearance of several files in the Windows Explorer page:

I've restarted my machine. I do not want to uninstall and reinstall the application as it will take hours to resync all my files.

Any help is much appreciated.

Megan

Hi @GHiggins, let's jump straight into this!

From your screenshots, and the cloud-like icons on the files, it seems these are set to be available online-only.

Can you access your Dropbox folder, right click on them and select Make available offline? What happens when you try to preview them after changing that setting?

Keep me posted!

GHiggins

Hi Megan, Thanks for your help. Your suggestion works to open the files from the desktop app. However, I don't really want to do this every time I have to open a file. My computer is ALWAYS connected to the internet, so making the file "available offline" doesn't really make sense here. Shouldn't it simply pull the file as needed? Is that an option? Your help is much appreciated.

Jay

Hi @GHiggins, if the file isn't downloading when you're trying to open it directly, it's best to mark the file or folder as available offline so it's already on your machine when you try to open it.