I'm having an issue where an Excel file isn't displaying all characters when viewed within Dropbox. Certain letters and numbers (for example, "A" and "4") don't show up in the cell — the only way to see the full, correct content is to click the cell and check the formula/content field, which does show the right value. Some things I've isolated: * This only happens when viewing the file within Dropbox, not when I open the file locally in Excel — the file itself is correct. * This only happens in Chrome. I tested the same file in Opera and the issue does not occur there. So it seems to be specific to how Dropbox's preview renders in Chrome. Has anyone else run into this, and is there a known fix or workaround? Thanks in advance.

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Excel file not showing all characters in Dropbox preview (Chrome only)

seattlemusic

I'm having an issue where an Excel file isn't displaying all characters when viewed within Dropbox. Certain letters and numbers (for example, "A" and "4") don't show up in the cell — the only way to see the full, correct content is to click the cell and check the formula/content field, which does show the right value.

Some things I've isolated:

This only happens when viewing the file within Dropbox, not when I open the file locally in Excel — the file itself is correct.
This only happens in Chrome. I tested the same file in Opera and the issue does not occur there.

So it seems to be specific to how Dropbox's preview renders in Chrome. Has anyone else run into this, and is there a known fix or workaround? Thanks in advance.

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seattlemusic

UPDATE - Found the fix:

Root cause: this was a Calibri font rendering issue in Chrome, not a Dropbox or SharePoint bug specifically. Calibri isn't installed on macOS by default. When Chrome doesn't have a font installed locally, it has to substitute a fallback — and that fallback was dropping specific characters (in my case, "A" and "4") after the file initially rendered correctly.

How I confirmed it:

Changing the cell font away from Calibri (e.g., to Arial) fixed the display immediately
Issue occurred in Chrome only — not in Opera, not in Excel itself locally
Issue occurred on both Dropbox and SharePoint web previews, confirming it was a Chrome/font issue rather than platform-specific
Not fixed by: clearing cache, Incognito mode, disabling hardware acceleration

The fix:
Install the actual Calibri font on your Mac so Chrome has a real local copy to render from, instead of falling back to a broken substitute:

In Finder, go to Applications → find Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel
Right-click the app → Show Package Contents
Navigate to Contents → Resources → DFonts (note: this folder is called "DFonts," not "Fonts," in current Office versions)
Find the Calibri font files (Regular, Bold, Italic, etc.), copy them to your Desktop
Double-click each one → Install Font (opens in Font Book)
Fully quit Chrome (Cmd+Q) and reopen

This installed the real Calibri font locally, and the missing-character issue in Dropbox/SharePoint previews was resolved.

Alternative quick fix if you don't need Calibri specifically: just change the font in your file to Arial — that also resolves the display issue immediately since Arial is a true system font on Mac.

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Megan

Hey there, @seattlemusic, I'd be happy to look into this with you!

It sounds like a browser-specific issue, so let's dive deeper. Can you please try the following?

Use a private or incognito window when using Chrome: Stored cookies and temporary data often disrupt website performance.
Disable your browser extensions: Third-party tools frequently conflict with expected site behavior, so turn them off and reload the page.
Clear cached files and cookies: This eliminates lingering display errors.
Update your browser: Ensure your browser is fully updated to avoid compatibility conflicts.

You can read more about this here. If you notice the same behavior after trying these, let me know and we'll proceed accordingly.

Thanks a bunch!

seattlemusic

UPDATE - Found the fix:

How I confirmed it:

Changing the cell font away from Calibri (e.g., to Arial) fixed the display immediately
Issue occurred in Chrome only — not in Opera, not in Excel itself locally
Issue occurred on both Dropbox and SharePoint web previews, confirming it was a Chrome/font issue rather than platform-specific
Not fixed by: clearing cache, Incognito mode, disabling hardware acceleration

The fix:
Install the actual Calibri font on your Mac so Chrome has a real local copy to render from, instead of falling back to a broken substitute:

In Finder, go to Applications → find Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel
Right-click the app → Show Package Contents
Navigate to Contents → Resources → DFonts (note: this folder is called "DFonts," not "Fonts," in current Office versions)
Find the Calibri font files (Regular, Bold, Italic, etc.), copy them to your Desktop
Double-click each one → Install Font (opens in Font Book)
Fully quit Chrome (Cmd+Q) and reopen

This installed the real Calibri font locally, and the missing-character issue in Dropbox/SharePoint previews was resolved.

Megan

Hey there, @seattlemusic!

Great catch there! Thanks for sharing it with us and with the rest of our Community users. 🎉

Happy to see that your issue is now resolved! Have a lovely weekend ahead, enjoy. 😊

If you need anything, I'll be one post away!