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Daniel S.77's avatar
Daniel S.77
New member | Level 2
10 years ago

Re: How many years until Dropbox will fix offline files being unaccessible

In the Android app (latest version), I open the offline files screen. Dropbox says "All files are up to date".

I go offline and try to open the files. I receive the error "Can't connect to Dropbox. Make sure you're online" when opening images or "Couldn't load file. Check your internet connection" when opening PDF files.

I go online and click on "Update All". Dropbox says "Syncing..." for a while and then "All files are up to date". When I go offline the problem is still not solved.

6 Replies

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  • Allen M.9's avatar
    Allen M.9
    New member | Level 1
    10 years ago

    It would be great to see a response from Dropbox on this.  I set 2 video presentation files for 'Offline' but when my ipad is offline, I cannot open the video presentations.  I have to reconnect and be online for Dropbox to allow me to open the files.  I don't get any error messages when offline and try to open the file.  It just doesn't open.  

  • Danilo O.1's avatar
    Danilo O.1
    Explorer | Level 4
    10 years ago
    I have a similar issue. it seems to me that if dropbox cannot sync the files for some reason, it cannot show the files even if they are marked as offline
  • Anthony F.13's avatar
    Anthony F.13
    New member | Level 2
    10 years ago

    I have te same issue, but I'm an iOS user (9.3.5) and updated yesterday, just before loading the files and setting them to "offline files". I had this in the past, but can't remember how I managed to fix it.

  • Danilo O.1's avatar
    Danilo O.1
    Explorer | Level 4
    10 years ago
    Many thanks for your feedback. I have found two workarounds: The first is to put the device in airplane mode (offline), sometimes works and the other is to navigate with an external file browser to Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files where you can find a folder named scratch or a folder with a strange name that contains a folder named scratch. here you will find all the offline files and others... (that paths works on Android devices, ça va sans dire)
  • SteveFT's avatar
    SteveFT
    New member | Level 2
    9 years ago

    Yep. Above works, but one would wonder why it is so easy to get into the scratch folder....so much for securing your files Dropbox - anyone who steals your phone can access this folder and the offline files - poor design.

  • SPPD's avatar
    SPPD
    New member | Level 2
    9 years ago

    I have been experiencing this same problem for quite a while now. Has anyone figured out why offline files cannot be accessed by Dropbox when the Android device is offline? Accessing the files via a file manager works, but it is very inconvenient.

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