Wrong file version opens

Daphne,

First of all, in this context when I'm looking at files on my Pixel, it's exclusively through the Dropbox App. So, by "preview" mode I simply mean the default view of the file you get when you first click on its icon within the Dropbox App. Perhaps "read-only" would be a better term?
You asked: "Would this be the file thumbnail, as you said that this persists outside of the Dropbox folder too?" I don't remember saying that, but I may not have been clear - I have no visibility of any file on my phone outside the Dropbox App, so the question is moot.
It's not simply a thumbnail (at least, I wouldn't call it that), its the entire file. If it's an Excel file, you can look at any sheet (if there are multiple worksheets); you can scroll around and look at charts and graphs, you just aren't in "edit" mode yet. Note: you have the option of telling Dropbox whether you want to always open files in Excel or Sheets, and once you've set this preference, all you have to do is click in any cell and immediately the file opens in Excel (or Sheets - or if you haven't yet set a permanent preference, you have to answer the dialog as to which program you want to use for editing). I've switched between Excel and Sheets and the problem persists.
As for closing Dropbox and reopening it, yes, I've tried that with no apparent effect. I've even tried uninstalling the app entirely and then reinstalling it, and, astoundingly, I still get the Feb 16 version of my file until I click on a cell and it opens for editing in Excel.
Even in list view, the date next to the file icon will say "last edited a few seconds ago", but if I click on the file icon, what opens for viewing (as described above) is the Feb 16 version! It also doesn't seem to matter whether I switch the settings from "autosave" to manual save; any changes (however saved) are not reflected in the default opened-view but only in the edit-mode view.
HOWEVER, I've made one small discovery. This problem seems to have appeared with the Android Dropbox App version released on or about Feb 16, the new version of Dropbox being the one that allows you to create "spaces" (I'll call them workspaces) where you can pin a frequently used file into a named workspace for quicker, even immediate, access. I hadn't tried using that new feature yet, but when I tried using it on that specific file, guess what? The problem went away! Now, when I click on the file icon in the workspace, the read-only version is indeed the most recently saved version! So I think this points to the new release of Dropbox (with the workspace feature) as the root cause of the problem. For frequently used files, the new, convenient workspace feature seems to have the accidental side-effect of eliminating a synchronization problem that now exists for files you don't put in a convenient workspace. For frequently accessed files, it is indeed convenient and you don't notice any problem at all. It's only for files you access infrequently that you might beat your head against the wall trying to figure out why you can't see your most recent changes on your Android app, even though you can see them everywhere else.
Interestingly, any edits I now make through the "workspace" are immediately reflected in the default view through the workspace (problem solved), but if I browse my way to the actual file location and make an edit directly there, I still have the problem; not only that, but the default view in the workspace only shows the most recent edits made through the workspace (until I switch to edit mode). It's as if there are now two different read-only views of the file - one for the workspace, and different one for the actual location. The read-only view through the workspace works correctly, but the read-only view at the actual file location has lost synchronization.

Roger

Thanks for reporting this, GasparM. 

 

Out of curiosity, is everything working OK when accessing the Excel file via the Dropbox app on your second computer? 

 

Also, if you haven’t tried this already, I’d like you to test this via an incognito window as well on your web browser, and let me know what happens.