Take Your Search Game to the Next Level with Dropbox Dash 🚀✨ Curious how it works? Ask us here!
Forum Discussion
Solved
'Invalid password' error when opening password-protected files
I have many files that are password protected. I have had them for years and have never had trouble accessing them. My password is stored in a password vault, and I have never touched or changed it. Now, every file I try to open says "invalid password," even though I'm copying it from my password vault. This happens on my phone, my Dropbox app on my Mac, and in Dropbox.com in the Safari browser. How can I access my files!!??
When I download the file to the computer and try opening it, the same thing happens
The issue isnt related to Dropbox then I'm afraid. Dropbox cannot add a password to files, and, as you downloaded it and opened it locally it isnt even in Dropbox's system.
You will need to contact the developer of whatever program you use for help (e.g. Microsoft for MS files etc.)
5 Replies
- Mark
Super User II
Is this the password on a file or a Dropbox link?
What happens if you download the file to a computer and try opening it it? If its the FILE itself the issue isnt related to Dropbox if you can do that.
Yes, it is on a file. When I download the file to the computer and try opening it, the same thing happens. I enter the password and it says it is invalid. It is the same password that I assigned to multiple files, and there are some files where it works and some where it doesn’t. I never assigned different passwords, but the same one to all the files. So I know it’s the right password.
- Rich
Yes, it is on a file. When I download the file to the computer and try opening it, the same thing happens.
Dropbox doesn't have the ability to add a password to a file. Likewise, it has nothing to do with the opening of files you've password protected. Something else must be the cause.
What application are you using to open the files?
- Mark
When I download the file to the computer and try opening it, the same thing happens
The issue isnt related to Dropbox then I'm afraid. Dropbox cannot add a password to files, and, as you downloaded it and opened it locally it isnt even in Dropbox's system.
You will need to contact the developer of whatever program you use for help (e.g. Microsoft for MS files etc.)
I did contact Scanner Pro, which is the app I used to create the file and add the password. They said that Scanner Pro does not sync with Dropbox in the traditional way, but only uploads the encrypted file to the Dropbox folder. Since it was uploaded, Scanner Pro has not touched it. It has worked fine to open the file with the password from the Dropbox folder, using the password, for a long time, but now it says invalid password. I don’t think it has anything to do with Scanner Pro at this point.
