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Files created before a certain date won't sync on Mac devices

mmoller

Recently I've run into an odd problem where Word files created before a certain date have stopped syncing. I have Dropbox added to Word for Mac as a "save" destination. I can pull up the files in Word or through Finder, and if I make a change and save the document into my Dropbbox save destination, a window pops up suggesting I have overwritten the file in Dropbox. But when I close the document and either (1) open from Word, (2) visit to the Dropbox "tray," (3) go to Finder, or (4) log in to Dropbox.com, the changes are not there. The tray registers me visiting the document but not editing it. If I change the name of one of these files, however, I can then save changes. I can also save to my hard-drive and then save changes to the document. All of this happened after I rebooted the computer a couple of weeks ago.

At this point, I've been messaging with Customer Support for two weeks to find a fix, and have been elevated to their "advanced support" team. I've cleared my cache, restarted Dropbox, deleted and reinstalled Dropbox, checked for updates to Word for Mac, and every other basic thing two levels of customer support can think of.

On one level, Dropbox is still usable so long as I just rename old files. But I've love to be able to work in old files without the hassle of remembering to rename the file to protect changes.

Wondering if anyone has encountered this and has any suggestions on possible fixes (explained for someone is not very "tech" saavy and is very much a plug-and-play user).

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Jay

Hi @mmoller, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Do you know what this date is approximately for the older Word files? Are these docx or doc file types?

Could you clarify what you mean by 'a window pops up suggesting I have overwritten the file in Dropbox'? A screenshot showing this would help me understand what you're seeing.

Feel free to drop any relevant details below. The more I know upfront, the sooner I can zero in and find a solution for you.

mmoller

Hi. I get a message "[Name of Document] already exists. Do you want to replace it?" I then hit yes.

The last recorded save in this file in Finder is July 25 (whenever I "save," the last recorded "date modified" remains 7/25. 7/25 was also when I rebooted. I've tried with other documents saved then or before and same result.

This is a docx file.

Thanks.

Jay

Is this only occurring for Word documents in the Dropbox folder?

Are you experiencing any similar issues with Word files outside of the Dropbox folder, namely the '[Name of Document] already exists. Do you want to replace it?', which seems to be an OS prompt?

mmoller

I am not experiencing issues with Word files saved outside of the Dropbox folder. The prompt is the normal prompt I get when I am making changes to an existing document in my Dropbox folder (or any other folder) without re-naming it. So the prompt is not unusual. What is odd is then the changes I tried to make are not then actually being saved in the document. The dropbox tray also does not show me having edited the document. The date modified for the document in the Finder (showing Dropbox files) remains 7/24.

Jay

Thanks for the info. At this point, it would be best to continue with the support team via email, as you have already been doing so, in order for them to investigate matters in more detail.

mmoller

OK, thanks. I'll keep plugging at this with them.

mmoller

Alas, the latest suggested fix by the "advanced support" folks made the problem worse—the problem with syncing seems to infecting all docs now after I went through a reinstall of Dropbox with them!

I've been trying for two weeks to work with emailed customer support. It is very difficult to communicate via email. It takes 24 hours just to get a single email response. It seems like the customer support people do not always read what I've sent them. Do you guys make exceptions to the support via email only for severe problems like this? Is there a way to elevate this further?? I'm really at my wits end here, to the point I'm thinking about switching cloud providers.

Jay

I can see that the support ticket is already with a specialist, so they are best prepared to assist you further with this matter.

I've gone ahead and added your comments to the support ticket so that the support agent is aware of this thread.

mmoller

Thank you. I've reluctantly opened an ICloud + account and am going to start using this as my primary cloud storage until we can find a way to resolve this. As a long and loyal Dropbox user, I hope we can!

Best,

Mark