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Mitz1's avatar
Mitz1
Explorer | Level 3
1 month ago

“Can't open the file because the file format/extension is not valid.” error on website/desktop app.

Hi, I’m having a serious issue with Dropbox where many of my files appear in the correct folders on both my computer and on Dropbox.com, but none of those specific files will open. I receive erro...
desktop
Error Messages
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Web
garrycoach's avatar
garrycoach
Helpful | Level 7
1 month ago

Since they fail to open on the web too, the zero-byte placeholder likely overwrote the actual data during that sync crash.

Go to Dropbox .com, right-click one of the broken files, and hit Version History. You're looking for an older version with an actual file size (not 0 bytes). If the only version listed is the current empty one, the real data probably never left your drive before the crash.

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