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

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

Thanks 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?

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]

Hey Mitz1​, let me jump in here!

You mentioned throughout this thread that some of the files appear to have zero size placeholders. However, it's important to point out that on your screenshots it looks like the content has an actual size. 

Can you send me a screenshot, and let me know where exactly these files appear as 0 size? Does this happen when you visit your account online, or locally? 

In addition to that, it seems that some of the files have a double extension. Can you try removing the last one, and check if anything changes after that? 

One more thing to note is that Excel has a built-in tool used to fix corrupted files called "Open and Repair". I think it'd be useful to give this one a go too, while you're at it.

As a last step, I'd suggest that you move some of these example files outside of your Dropbox folder (you can try moving them to your Desktop) and see if the behavior remains the same.

In any case, I'll be waiting for your updates! 

I receive an email that my last post is delayed. I'm going to attempt to post it again shortly.

Nancy, Your 1st request: screenshot of DB website when trying to open a file. I picked the file  “2024 Futures Trading.xlsx” because this file opens perfectly on Laptop 2 

Upon seeing this message, I hit the Download button and something did download but here is a screen shot tell me about file extension. 

Your 2nd request:  right-click on one of your files on the desktop app. As you can see, there is an option to make the file available offline, or online-only. 

As a side note, if it is relevant, in regard to Hannah’s question about the system tray. Even though the Dropbox App was launched from the Start Menu, the icon is not present on the System Tray.

Can you send me one more screenshot of what you see on the Dropbox website, when trying to open one of those files? 

I’d also like you to right-click on one of your files on the desktop app next and send me a screenshot of the options you see. Do you see an option to make the file available offline, or online-only?

Nothing opens on this primary computer. Nothing! On computer 2 I can still open every file create before mid January,

Thanks for that, Mitz1. The app should be syncing as normal.

And it's definitely strange that you can't open the files online.

Have you tried restoring one of the files that gives you this error to an older version, to see if it opens then?