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“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...
Hello Megan, thank you for jumping in.
Regarding the zero place holders. Yes, the screen shot I took does show files sizes. This is very confusing to me and I’m going to try to recall what happened. At some point over the weekend when I was working to recover files, I’m pretty sure that all the file sizes were zero, Or it may have been that I couldn’t even see any files. On Monday, with the help of a friend I was able to bring back my file list. When I tried opening a file from that list, I got an error message saying I was out of memory. I checked my records and found I had renewed my Dropbox Plus subscription last June. I bought the new subscription anyway hoping that it would allow me to recover my files. That didn’t work.
Regarding file extensions. Yes, they appear to have changed, but only on my primary computer. On my second computer, the HP, they open fine…except for files created sometime around mid-January (which don’t even show up on the HP). I also tried downloading some files and changing the extension but that didn’t work either.
Regarding Excel “Open and Repair”, as I’ve stated, the files open perfectly on my HP computer.
Regarding moving the files. I am in the process of copying the files from my HP.
A sync problem happened sometime in January when the files created on my primary computer were not showing up in Dropbox on my Computer 2, the HP. That is why I tried to resync in the first place.
I use a program everyday called Tradestation to track charts and keep notes. Every time I make a change to a chart, I need to save and it overrides the previous version. Unfortunately, for years now, I have been saving these files on Dropbox, so when I open Tradestation it looks for the file to open up. Those files took me years to accumulate. And now, it appears they are gone.
I appreciate your help. Let me know what other information I can provide.
Don [removed]
[removed]
[personal info removed per the Dropbox Community Guidelines]
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorThanks for the update, Don, it is a pretty strange situation.
One more thing I'd like you to check is the syncing icon next to the files that are not opening; are the files set to "online-only"?
If so, can you right-click on them, choose "make available offline" and then try to open them to see if that makes a difference?
Hannah, in response to your post. I cannot tell for sure if they are set to “online-only”. I hope you can see from this screen shot that an option to “make available offline” is not available.
Don
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