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Cannot open files after rebooting Windows - files appear as online-only

Hello everyone,

after I rebootet windows because there were some major problems after a failed update, I resynched my dropbox and all files seem to be there and in order like they used to be. unfortunately, I cannot open any of them (marked with the grey cloud symbol) and I suppose its because they are only available online? I checked the preferences and played around with the online/offline modes but nothing changes. according to my system preferences, the files are already available offline, but in the storage space on dropbox, they don´t show the correct size and seem to be empty. When I add new files to the dropbox, they synchronize just fine. Any idea how to fix this?

Screenshot 2024-01-12 123647.png Screenshot 2024-01-12 123718.png

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Hannah

Hey @carinathomae, sorry to see you're having trouble.

The gray cloud icons on your files do mean that the files are set to online-only; if you right-click them, do you see a "make available offline" option?

And if so, does clicking on that switch them to available offline?

Also, what's the sync status and version of the app when you hover over the Dropbox icon?

Let me know what you find.

carinathomae

Hey, to me it says version 190.4.6383 up to date. it seems to work now with that option now that I reinstalled dropbox again. everything is loading really really slowly and when I click the items I wait several seconds even for the right click menu to open. maybe if everything is synched properly it ill fix it. thank you though.

Megan

Hey @carinathomae, thanks for the update here!

Yeah, I'd suggest that you give it a bit more time to sync any changes that you made, and then see how it behaves.

In any case, if you need anything else, we're here!

carinathomae

Hey, an Update to the situation: I’ve waited now since the last post but Dropbox is still running really slowly. It takes like 30 seconds to open a folder or a picture or even right clicking, doesn’t matter if the documents are available online or offline. Other folders that are not in the Dropbox but on my hard drive work just fine and the folders open within less than a second. Something isn’t right with Dropbox and I have no idea what it’s about. I have the 64 bit version, already checked that. What could be the problem here?

Megan

Hm, thanks for the update, Carina!

How many files are currently syncing locally to your Dropbox folder? You can right click on your Dropbox folder, and select "Properties" to double check that.

Could you also try temporarily closing or disable any third party app, like a security or antivirus software, that could be affecting this?

carinathomae

I finally figured out the solution to this problem and I think it might help some people in the rare case they get this problem too.

The reason because my laptop (windows) initially broke down was because I downloaded and synched icloud on my device. Dropbox continued to load really slowly because icloud was still messing with the system somehow and I didnt deinstall Icloud yet. After deinstalling icloud for good, my dropbox suddenly worked like a charm like there had never been a problem.

Megan

Thanks so much for the update, and for sharing that with us and other users too @carinathomae!

In any case, if you need anything else, we'll be one post away, cheers! 😎