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sophiieallan's avatar
sophiieallan
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago

Can no longer open powerpoint files

I tried to back up all my files last night and they seem to have vanished from my laptop and are now only on my dropbox. When I tried to download them back to my mac, all of my powerpoints now have a...
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Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Hi sophiieallan, it definitely sounds like the file is now a .icloud file. If you attach a screenshot, it should be visible in the file name. The UFO icon indicates that it can't be previewed on Dropbox, so most likely all those files you see are now .icloud files.

This happens if you use iCloud to backup your files, it stores files in the Documents folder, and others, in their servers. If you enabled the computer backup feature, it's possible that Dropbox saved these .icloud files from the Documents folder instead of the full versions.

Could you try recovering the files from iCloud to see if this helps?
  • sophiieallan's avatar
    sophiieallan
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 years ago

    Hi Jay, 

    Thanks, I've managed to access my iCloud drive however they aren't on the iCloud drive either or in my recently deleted on iCloud. Furthermore the un-openable files have no vanished from my dropbox app. I have no idea what's happened? Any more suggestions?

    Thanks

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      5 years ago
      Could you check the version history of one of the files to see if you can recover an old version with all the data in it?

      You can also try using a third party app or service to recover files from your computer.
      • sophiieallan's avatar
        sophiieallan
        Explorer | Level 4
        5 years ago

        Hi Jay, 

        That doesn't seem to do anything as the older version also seems to be corrupted too. Is it due to it being a .icloud file?

         Thanks

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