Child Item

We can't open After Effects files unless we make them available offline on our MacOS device

Hi,

We’ve been using Dropbox for our After Effects projects for many years. Previously, when we clicked on a .aep file, the project and all linked assets from different locations would automatically sync and open without any issues.

However, for the past few weeks we’ve been experiencing a different behavior: we can’t open projects unless we first make the files “Available offline” Even after opening the .aep file, we have to manually locate each asset in the project and make it available offline one by one.

Is this a bug, or has support for macOS Monterey changed in some way? This issue is severely disrupting our workflow. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Device

Macbook M1 Max
Operating System

MacOS Monterey 12.0.1
Dropbox App Version

231.4.5770

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Comments

Walter

Hey there @yasinturhan-916 - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please let me know if this only affects your After Effects projects/files and if you're working on an individual account or a team account instead?

Also, how large are the files that are showing this behavior?

Any additional information or even screenshots are more than welcome!

yasinturhan-916

We’re experiencing this issue not only with After Effects but with all of our files. It’s not just me — more than 50 of my teammates are facing the same problem. We’re using a team account.

File sizes range from as small as 100 KB to over 10 GB, and we encounter the same issue with all of them.

I’ve attached the error message we receive each time we try to open a file.

Megan

Hey @yasinturhan-916, let me also jump in here!

When did you first notice this behavior?

You also mentioned this happens with other files too. I'm assuming you're also getting an error when double clicking an online-only file, and trying to simply open it?

One last thing: does the issue persist if you pause syncing or quit the desktop app completely on your computer?

yasinturhan-916

Hello,

We’ve been experiencing this issue for about 2–3 weeks now.

Yes, we get an error when we try to open a file by double-clicking it. However, when we set it to “Make available offline,” it opens. In other words, it asks us to manually sync first.

Despite stopping synchronization, restarting the program, and rebooting the computer, the problem still persists.

We look forward to your support, thank you.

Nancy

Hey @yasinturhan-916! Let me chime in here, too.

You mentioned in your first post that your Dropbox app was using this app version: 231.4.5770. Since there has been a new one released in the meantime (232.4.5926), can you make sure your desktop app has been properly updated to it?

I also understand that you receive an error after directly double-clicking on a file in the Dropbox folder, instead of right-clicking on it > selecting “Make available offline” first. Correct?

Finally, and please correct me if I’m wrong again, this is happening for all files saved in your local Dropbox folder, and not just your .aep files. Right?

This will help me sum up the issue a little bit and investigate further.

Thanks!