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Issues editing Word documents with Dropbox
Hi
I have for ages had the practice of going outdoors and editing word documents stored in dropbox on my phone or tablet with Microsoft Word app
This has always worked like a dream, any changes would be automatically saved with no error messages and synced to all devices.
Now I am getting error messages about "changes made by other user, your file can't be saved" or "can't upload file" sometimes AFTER I've done a stack of work in that file, so all those edits are lost. Or the file will open "read only" !
It seems I have to save a new version with a new name every time I open a file on my phone before I can be sure it will do edits without some drama or other.
Dropbox folder on my computer is working perfectly.
This is driving me insane as I do this work every day, and had no issue til now.
Any ideas?
Hi all,
As Sanchez mentioned, as the problems are occurring from within the Microsoft applications this sounds like an issue on their side. We'd still like to help get this one resolved, so to try and fix sync issues I'm going to ask those affected to try unlinking and relinking their Dropbox account from the Microsoft Office mobile app:
https://help.dropbox.com/desktop-web/microsoft-office-faq#unlink/relink
To unlink a Dropbox account from an Office Mobile app:
- Open the Office Mobile app.
- Tap the folder icon.
- From the list of places, tap and hold Dropbox.
- Once you've held your finger on Dropbox for a few seconds, a trash can icon will appear in the top right corner of the screen. Tap the trash can to remove Dropbox from the Office Mobile app.
To re-link a Dropbox account to an Office Mobile app:
- Open the Office Mobile app.
- Tap the folder icon.
- Tap Add a place.
- Tap Dropbox.
- Tap Allow next to the Dropbox account listed (if you're already signed in to the Dropbox app). Or, to link a new Dropbox account, tap Use a different account. You'll be directed to a browser window where you can enter the credentials for the Dropbox account you'd like to connect.
Let me know if this helps to resolve any issues with syncing files to Dropbox from within the Microsoft Office app!
Frank
64 Replies
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Hi Sanchez,
Thanks for your prompt reply
Since this problem has been going on for a little while, ( i would say 2 weeks, perhaps more), I am not entirely sure what might have changed in terms of updates. All my apps (including dropbox) are up to date, I use the microsoft excel editor which was, according to the google play store, last updated january 17th, so that could potentially be a thing. The latest android update was relatively recent but I cannot quite remember when.
I just updated another excel file on my phone, that one saved perfectly.
I then went back to the problem file and it somehow also suddenly saved. I then attempted to alter some things in the problem file again but now the problem is occurring again and it will not save saying "there was a problem uploading this file. Last uploaded 5 minutes ago".
It feels as if the file would still be open somewhere, somehow and thus unable to be updated, however I went through the process that made it suddenly work 5 minutes ago, without any luck. Manually closing and force-stopping the excel app from the app settings page also did not have an effect.
So for about the last week, my Excel and Word apps on my iPad no longer let me download and edit my Dropbox files. Excel says it cannot download my file and that it is unable to connect to the server. Word says it can't find the file and that it's moved location since the last time I opened it. The only thing I did, which doesn't even make sense, is move my Dropbox icon to a different screen. I have had no problems until this and I'm just very confused. Word also says that the last downloaded time for a file was in 2040 after I try opening it. So that's fun.
All of my apps are up to date, but my iOS is only 9.3.5. I've had this thing forever, and that's the last iOS I'll be able to get. I'm not that tech savvy, so please bear with me, but I look forward to some help! Thanks!
- Sanchez
Dropbox Community Moderator
- Sanchez
- Hi @Sanchez! Thanks for the welcome!
I sent in my ticket and am now just awaiting response.
I know it might be the Microsoft apps, but it seemed like I'd get a faster response through Dropbox first. - Sanchez
Glad this thread is here. Same issue. I will contact Microsoft.
- Sanchez
When attempting to open older files in drop box on the mobile app the word documents do not open.
All our users are having this issue.
Everyone on our team has the most recnet IOS version/Android and Dropbox updated.
Yet all files older then 2017 we can not open.
We need to be able to access this infromation on the go!
- Rich
Super User II
What's the error message that you're getting?
