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My files appear to be empty after editing

Hello, I'm on an ASUS Zenbook running Windows 11. I have a shared dropbox folder that constantly has files getting wiped/copied (when they get copied they are empty) showing up on the dropbox. It always shows me editing the file and its usually multiple at the exact same time. All the files have nothing in them and instead are blank. I know you can restore the file but its been happening for months and across multiple different shared folders and its honestly a headache to fix. Help appreciated, thanks in advance.

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Mark

Dropbox can only replicate what its being told to do, so, something on your device is doing this.

How do you mean the files are empty when opened? Are they totally blank? Do you have enough quota on your account at http://www.dropbox.com/account/plans

Jay

Hi @samuelc, thanks for messaging the Community!

Do you have any apps or services that could be monitoring the Dropbox folder itself, and somehow interfering with the edits?

As @Mark said, are the files literally empty or blank when you open them up?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!

samuelc

No, none of my apps that I am aware of can edit the folder, all of the ones that might are also installed by other people in the same folder and it's not happening to them which makes me think its another issue maybe on my computer.

Second, the files are completely blank, like they have just been opened up.

Jay

Could you attach a screenshot of the version history for that specific file, by following these steps to view the history?

Nancy

Hi @samuelc! I wanted to give you a little nudge here and see if you still need help with this.

Keep us in the loop.

samuelc

I don't know how to attach images in direct replies, so this is in response to Jay's message.
As you can see, the files are added at the same exact time, and all have zero bytes in them.

Megan

Hey @samuelc, let me also jump in here!

Based on the screenshots that you sent me, and specifically the first one it looks like we're talking about an empty file. Can you please check the file version history of a file that was deleted, and then restored? I'd like to see how this looks like on your end.

In addition to that, can you also check your events page to see if it reflects the same behavior? The events page gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders.

Keep in mind that there's a new stable build of our desktop app, so you might want to manually download and update it if you're not already using it.

I'll be waiting for your updates!

samuelc

None of my files get deleted and then restored. Instead, they either get replaced by a new file with the same name and blank version history with my name attached (all the version history says is that I added a blank file), or all get deleted. All of these happen to multiple files at the exact same time.

Megan

Hey @samuelc!

I'm going to need some account-specific info in order to look closer into this. I just sent you an email, so please reply back as soon as possible and we'll take it from there!

Thanks!