Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

LisaMac's avatar
LisaMac
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

problem opening documents in dropbox app on laptop "word unable to read this document"

Hi there I have one dropbox account for work purposes.  After working perfectly, I'm now having issues with the dropbox app on windows laptop.  Error message: "word is unable to read this document....
edit
Error Messages
Microsoft Office
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Hi SigurdurBjornsson, this looks like an orange box icon, which could indicate a conflict with OneDrive on your machine, is it currently running?

 

Could you try marking those files as available offline to see if this helps with opening them?

SigurdurBjornsson's avatar
SigurdurBjornsson
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago

Hi Jay, thanks for the reply

 

I'm not logged into OneDrive. 

It's so strange, most of my files have this orange box on them and I can't access it. Three times this has happened but after a while and/or restarting my PC everything is back to normal.

It's very inconvenient not being able to access my files, I use Dropbox every single day for all my work files. Do you know if there is any way to prevent this from happening?

 

All the best, Sigurður 

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    This error usually occurs when there is another cloud provider on your machine, which is affecting the sync icons on Windows.

     

    Generally, marking the files as available offline would help, since the files are then stored on your machine and you shouldn't get another issue like this.

    • Kim2000Kirk's avatar
      Kim2000Kirk
      New member | Level 2
      2 years ago

      I am having the same problem.  I had to reinstall Windows on my laptop and I set up Dropbox app and downloaded all my files - not I am getting the same message.  It says my files "are available offline" but I can't open any of the documents from my computer files, only by going to Dropbox online.   I checked and One Drive is installed but not set to sync.  So that is not a problem.   I need to be able to access my Dropbox files off line.  I have been paying for this service for years.

       

       

      • Kim2000Kirk's avatar
        Kim2000Kirk
        New member | Level 2
        2 years ago

        I somehow got it to work.  I went into Dropbox setting on my computer and changed it from "read only" so that I can modify the files and it updated all the files in my DB folders and now I can open them. 

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!