DB on MacOS is corrupting my files (now irreversibly)

Dear Fiona,

again, this is not a Microsoft issue. Other files (not related to Microsoft) get corrupted as well (the difference being I have an online copy for most others).

The problem is most likely with Dropbox. I'm not using any third-party apps that could cause this. Even if it's something related to how Dropbox interacts with the MacOS file system, I'd say that solving this is on your side of things.

Best,

Wojciech

Thanks for the additional info. Dropbox cannot corrupt your files. But we can try to help you figure this out and solve it. See which apps are saving the files corrupted. Please let me know the other file types that you get this issue with. 

Some screenshots of file examples you can't open, would be very helpful for this thread as well. 

How long has this been going on for? Have you scanned your devices with a security system?  Help Center article about this. 

Hey Wojciech, happy to hear it is solved.

Thanks so much for posting your solution and feedback. 

Selective Sync is the Dropbox feature that removes the files from the local Dropbox folder completely. Smart Sync is meant to show you the "ghost" files locally. 

Since Smart Sync extensions were not enabled at all, this feature cannot have affected the files. Without Smart Sync, all files are local. I understand there might have been an issue with Excel and how it saved the version of the file you edited. 

Is the file you had the issue with functional and synced to Dropbox now? :thinking:

Dear Fiona,

Yes I know what selective sync is and I know what smart sync is supposed to do.

Thing is, that I didn't have smart sync enabled, and I could not open some of the files in DB. Once I enabled it, they started working. And this has been the experience of another user that I have linked to above. So clearly, something doesn't work as intended.

There's no issue with Excel. The issue is with Dropbox. I had problems with other Office files, PDFs, and pretty sure something else, but that's irrelevant. Thing is, that even if it was something that didn't work between Office and Dropbox, I'd still say that Dropbox is the side that should try to fix the issue and not Microsoft (sorry).

AND, the files only did not work on my Macbook. The same files worked on my PC. So something was wrong with the syncing on Macbook. Not with the files per se.

So again - it's a Dropbox issue:

1) It only happened to files on Dropbox.

2) It only happened on one device, so the files themselves were not generally corrupted (i.e. third party app did not damage them) just badly synced to that one device.

3) The thing that fixed it was enabling a Dropbox option.

Another Dropbox user had the same issue and fix.

So please stop saying that Dropbox couldn't have done it and pointing fingers at other apps. Just try to figure out what went wrong.

And no, I have not recovered the one file that didn't sync properly at all, I had to redo the work. Doesn't matter now. I'm just answering to highlight that it's a Dropbox issue.

Best,

Wojciech

This statement, that "Dropbox cannot corrupt your files," is -provably- untrue. We have had so many Mac-structured files irretrievably damaged by being stored for periods of time on Dropbox's servers, that we have begun off-loading them onto safer storage options.

Some Mac-only files (.pages, .numbers, .keynote) contain resource forks that do not exist within Windows files and are challenging for any non-Apple computers to process and store. When those resource forks are damaged, the files become, essentially, useless and unreadable.

Why do I know this? Because we were using Dropbox as a redundant source of archival backups for a number of years' worth of project files. We eventually had to delete the main files from our hard drives, but retained the Dropbox folders for later access. When we later went to access them, the files were present but showed -zero- kb file sizes, and were irreversably damaged and lost. Luckily for us, we had the same files backed up to 2 other sources - an external Time Machine drive, and Code42's Crashplan cloud servers. Restoring the exact same files from the other 2 sources showed perfectly functioning files - but hundreds of files stored on Dropbox were no longer readable.

We contacted Dropbox about this and they said just what Fiona is saying here: it's not our fault!

Well - I would say proceed with caution on Macs, relying on Dropbox as a sole source of backup/restore archiving.

I found this thread after over 24 hours of me trying to figure out why my Macbook wouldn't open my PDFs, Word documents or even JPGs. I finally found that its ONLY when I use my Dropbox files in my Dropbox folder from the Finder on my Mac. If I go to the web version of Dropbox I can open the files OR if it's stored to the Mac in another folder outside of Dropbox then I can open it. So I have to agree this is some Dropbox issue not the program the file was made or opens in since I cannot open a number of different types of files, including images.

Honestly I still cannot figure out how to get it fixed.

Hi!

In my case, it turned out that I have to enable the smart sync (even if I don't want to) or it won't work. So I think that's what worked in my case, maybe it will work in yours to?

Just thought I'd tell you this, before someone from Dropbox tells you it's not their software's fault ;)

Good luck!

WH