Why do I get a "Sorry, we could not find your file. Is it possible it was moved, renamed...?' error?

Yes, the files are in Dropbox.

I am attempting to open files that have been synced and are available to me through the "library tree" on the left side of my files on "This PC" folder.

Other members of the workgroup can access the same files.

All the other Excel files I've been working with have been opening until I came to this particular folder.

In an online chat with Dropbox support, I was informed that the error message indicated a software conflict and Dropbox will not provide support for 3rd party software conflicts, and I understand that.  If I have some conflict that prevents me from opening 2 Excel files in one folder through my "Dropbox Drive" I'd like to fix it.  I can't be the only one who has experienced the issue and if there's some suggestion for a fix, I would like to try it.

Thanks for the reply, Sanchez....any ideas?

Phil

I've been experimenting....I can copy the file and put it on my harddrive and the file will open.  When I replace the file on Dropbox, the files will not open for all 3 of my computers.

Also, others in my workgroup only access files through the Dropbox website, not through a "drive" on their computers.  I just found that out and that is how they access the files.

Microsoft 365 "spanked my hand" when I tried to open on these files on the website and admonished that I cannot use my version of 365 to open files in a business account.  But, I know that's not my problem while using the Dropbox "drive" because all other files open just fine.

I can preview the files, tho, but I cannot edit the preview.

Thanks again,

Phil

I'm certainly aware Dropbox does not support 3rd party software but I thought this forum was for assistance to my issues!!!  I have responded via email.

But, do you have any idea why the file I cannot open on Dropbox is perfectly fine when copied and pasted to a file on my local drive?  That DOES sound like a Dropbox issue to me.  And it's not all Excel files, it is just a few.

Hey there STEVEDEL248 - thanks for sharing what worked for you!

As you successfully pointed out, the issue you've been experiencing is probably due to a limitation of the applications that you're using to open the files in question. In short, there are files that your applications can't process correctly because they have file paths that are too long.  

In addition, this behavior is present if there are more than 255 characters in the entire file path. This means from the C:\ all the way to the extension of a file. Files will sync to and from those locations, however the applications used to open said files (e.g. Word, Notepad, Excel, etc.) might not support reading from these locations with long file paths and may show error messages when trying to open, save or edit these file (such as the one described in this thread). This is out of our control since the application developers would have to add support for long paths to resolve the issue.

You should be able to resolve the issues with your applications processing these files by simply renaming the file to a shorter name, renaming a folder to a shorter name, or reducing the number of sub-folders as you also outlined in your response. 

 I hope this information helps all of the affected users getting this error message.

Once again, thanks for using Dropbox and posting in our Forum. 

Cheers!

Stevedel248 -- Thank you very much.  You'd think the solution to this issue would be more widely known!!

Regards,

Phil

Just did the same and it worked..Thank you!

Thanks, it is due to naming.
It works now.