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Unable to pin to Start Tiles in Windows 10

I have apps like Excel and Filemaker pinned to the start menu of windows 10 as tiles. Under those tiles I also have frequently used files. So just right click the app icon, click the file you want to open and you're off an running.

BUT....I see now that window will NOT let this work with files that are in Dropbox. They don't even show up in the recent file list under the tiles. They DO show up under recent files once you open the app and navigate to recent files.

I'm assuming this is Microsoft being crabby that people use dropbox instead of their cloud storage. But....is there a work around?

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Megan

That's the spirit @Andy P.17!

Also, I agree with you on this one. 😉

If you need anything, give me another shout!

All comments

Megan

Hi @Andy P.17, how are you today?

Can you let me know the version of the app you're using on your end by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon?

In addition, have you tried restarting your device? If you notice the same thing there, can you send me a screenshot, please?

Keep me posted.

Andy P.17

Dropbox version 142.4.4197

Have restarted many times. This is ongoing and I thought I'd just take time to look for a solution. Very annoying.

Screen shot is of start menu tiles where the most recent file should be at the top of the recent list. And files in dropbox for which I"ve created short cuts can't be pinned in the list.

Megan

Hi @Andy P.17, great job on the screenshot!

Let me ask: are the files locally synced to the device, or online-only perhaps?

Andy P.17

Locally synced

Megan

Happy Friday @Andy P.17!

I'd suggest that you update the desktop app on your end, since there's a new version out. You can follow
this link to do so manually if it hasn't updated already.

Can you also check for any updates on Excel and let me know how it goes from there?

Andy P.17

I'll try the dropbox app update. I"m using a very old version of excel so no updates there.

Megan

Sure thing, @Andy P.17.

Give it a go, and let me know more.

Andy P.17

I think I'm going to have to settle that Microsoft is just being a jerk about dropbox vs OneDrive. If I open a local file in excel, it will show up in the recent files list when right clicking the excel start tile. If I open a file that is in dropbox (even though it's a local file) it will not show up in that list. So I have to open excel, and navigate to the file via it's recent file list there.

I have updated to the latest dropbox app, so it's not Dropbox. And....I'm not giving in to this "inducement" to "upgrade" to a new excel that I don't own and will have to pay for ever for bells and whistles I don't user or need. Bitter? A tad...

Thank you for your support.

Megan

Hi @Andy P.17!

As a workaround (not ideal), but to get going with it, would be for you to try and pin certain folders from Dropbox to the start menu for quick access.

I suggest that you also try to contact
Microsoft support to see if they can help identify why this is happening.

Andy P.17

Pinning folders...I'll try that. Very little hope that Msft will help. Thanks again for hanging in there with me. One thing I won't do is switch to OneDrive to even see if it avoids this inconvenience.

Megan

That's the spirit @Andy P.17!

Also, I agree with you on this one. 😉

If you need anything, give me another shout!

simonpmundy

Hi, I just ran into what's probably another version of this which I'm sure has arisen from a recent MS Office change. My wife and I share a home finance Excel spreadsheet that lives in our Family Room. It's "Local" to both of us. Me being smart pinned the spreadsheet to the Excel tile on my Windows 10 taskbar; she did not do that on her machine.

The result is that I was always editing the same file which Windows never handed back to the Family Room folder when I "Saved" it in Excel, hers always was saved to Family Room. So we were working with increasingly different versions of the same file.

I caught that today. Fixed the spreadsheet to include the "missing" entries and UNPINNED from my taskbar Excel tile. Voila! We're now back working on the same file.

I'm with Andy: MS trying to make life difficult for us non-OneDrive users.

quipette1

I'm at the same dead end there also, I also have it locally and it also does the same thing. Ugh

Nancy

Hey @quipette1!

What’s the exact OS version of the computer you’re using, along with the app version of the Dropbox app on it?

Andy P.17

This is sounding more like a file management issue. I'm running excell2010 so I'm certain everyone else is more up to date there. One of the players is not updating files as they should. Dropbox has no reason to be petty and ignore "certain files", that is counter to its whole purpose. Microsoft on the other hand......