DrVJMJ Collaborator | Level 8

Glad to hear it Davin! This was very frustrating to me for several weeks!

I didn't think I had any arrows either.... but if you look carefully at the list of sources from which you can attach under the hamburger menu you will see a very small box with an arrow pointing to the right on the right side of each of the items listed. If you tap that little button it will allow you to attach normally…

Hey Daven, Have you been able to figure it out yet? The ability to attach from Dropbox in Gmail on Android phones can no longer be done the way we used to do it. I have no idea why but there is a very simple workaround which you can get used to after a while. It's been discussed here before. When you click the paper clip…

Exactly! The arrow workaround is fine and better than the other options but not better than the original more elegant solution!

If Dropbox is not listed along with Google Drive and other options for sharing, then the linkage between the Gmail app and the Dropbox app has not been established. You need to do this within the Gmail app.

The hamburger is just the three horizontal parallel lines in the top left that typically indicate there are menu items when clicked. After clicking the paper clip in the upper right of your Gmail app, then instead of choosing Dropbox choose the hamburger and from within the hamburger don't click Dropbox but instead the…

Yes there are actually 3 workarounds. One is to start from Dropbox and share it to Gmail. That's bass-akwards because most of us start our correspondence from Gmail and then want to attach a file as we have done with Dropbox and Gmail on our phones for years. So that one doesn't even count. Another option is of course to…

Unfortunately you can't attach files here or I would share the ones I have marked up illustrating the steps. But the key has been stated here several times. You start with the paper clip, But instead of choosing a folder from Dropbox you choose the hamburger at the top left, THEN choose Dropbox NOT by clicking on Dropbox…

A little less cumbersome is using the "hamburger" rather than choosing a file directly. If there were a way to attach files here I would do so with each of the steps illustrated.

But why would we want to share files by starting with the Dropbox app? We've always been able to work from Gmail which is where the communication is going on.? And I suspect that when you be again with the Dropbox app the file is first downloaded to our phones and eventually fills up our phone storage. What has changed so…

Calvin, it sounds to me as though you are suggesting that he attach to Gmail by having Dropbox download the file to our phones and then attach from there. The original system using the paperclip in a Gmail app I understood to take the file directly from Dropbox to Gmail servers. That meant the files were not stored on our…

Beware Vicky that your phone doesn't clog up because I suspect what's happening you are downloading the file from Dropbox to your phone and then attaching. This is a different process.

Beware Kathy because I suspect what's happening is that the file is downloaded from Dropbox to your phone and then attached to your mail. This means your phone may soon clog up with all those downloaded files.

Beware Metro, your phone may soon fill up with all the files that you have attached. Attaching them directly from Dropbox left the file in the Dropbox cloud. This workaround downloads them and clogs up your phone. But maybe you don't have large files or do this very often?

But Larry what happens when your phone is full after having use this system for 6 months?

Okay Richard, You first replied to Rita in July, now I see you replied in August, and we are in November. Is there a solution?

Hi Sam! In July you said your team was looking into it and would let us know. Is there any answer? For me this problem occurred in the spring, then magically disappeared in the summer, and now has reappeared in the last 2 months. What's going on! 

Amen and amen!!!!!

Hi Richard, your reply to Rita above was in July. It's now mid-November and at least for me the problem continues. Is there any answer to this? I've used Dropbox for over 10 years with tens of thousands of files and have always been able to attach them from the Gmail app to my mail. As I'm sure you know it works fine if…

Yes Hannah we have tried reinstalling both the Dropbox app and the Gmail app on our Android phones. Last spring somehow magically the problem went away after weeks of frustration. But now in the fall it has reappeared. After a decade of using Dropbox with tens of thousands of files, I'm considering switching to Google…

Exactly right! This problem first dropped up in the spring and after a couple of frustrating months reinstalling Dropbox and the Gmail app on my Android phone it seem to go away shortly. But now in the fall of 23 it has reappeared and I can't imagine why. For those of us with a 10-year history using Dropbox and thousands…

Exactly! I can attach documents when I start from the Dropbox app, but when I start with the Gmail app on my Android they will not attach.

Wish I got that option!!!

Yes I can open Word on my phone create a new document and save it to Dropbox with no problem. It also adds the document to the word list of recent docs. By the way, I don't know how to set Dropbox as the default location. On my phone One drive is the default so I have to choose it manually each time using the drop-down…

I just checked my phone and agree with you that the problem seems to have been solved. As of today May 30 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time I am now again able to create files on my Z-fold 3 using the Word app and save them to Dropbox, open files through the Word app from Dropbox change them and save them back with a new name. I…

One issue I'm still not clear about regarding this problem is the relationship between installing individual MS apps like Word or Excel or PowerPoint separately from the store as opposed to installing the entire Microsoft Suite. The latter seems to appear as a separate item in the app store. Sometimes I get the impression…

Well I was hopeful but this did not work for me. To be honest, uninstalling and reinstalling both Word and Excel should have accomplished the same thing. And that didn't work both times I tried it. But just to be sure I RESET from SETTINGS within both Word and separately from within Excel. When I reopened these apps it…

..... And Hannah yes of course you are free to email me. I already received an email from you and I think a ticket was opened so I don't want you to duplicate things.

Hi Hannah, Though I'm confident I have done this before, I followed your steps again exactly. 1. I cleared the cache for Dropbox and for good measure cleared the cache for Word 2. I uninstalled both Dropbox and Word from my Samsung Z-Fold 3 3. I rebooted the phone. 4. I reinstalled both Dropbox and Word. Same problem! When…

Dluptonmd describes it right! I have described it elsewhere the same way. This is a big problem either for the Word app or for Dropbox and typically each side points at the other.