Forum Discussion

emlan's avatar
emlan
Explorer | Level 3
8 years ago

Some files are black

I am trying to open a spreadsheet saved on Dropbox but the file has some text showing and the majority of the page is black. Why is this?
Delete
restore
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
8 years ago
When you say Dropbox file, do you mean the Dropbox folder?
 
If so, and the file itself is showing black in some of the spreadsheet, then it’s possible it was made that way for some reason. Dropbox doesn’t modify your files in any way without any user interaction on them.
 
Are you able to change the color of the cells in Excel yourself? Was this via a shared folder, and did the other user create the spreadsheet this way?
 
Any info you can provide, including screenshots (hiding any personal data) would be great!
emlan's avatar
emlan
Explorer | Level 3
8 years ago

Hello

 

Yes opening in the dropbox folder. We have tried to change the colour however the top of the excel spreadsheet where the 'fill' button is, is grey and cannot be clicked. I have tried to attach a picture of the screen however i am getting an unexpected error message from dropbox

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    8 years ago
    I’m not sure if this is Dropbox-related, since you’re experiencing this issue on your computer.
     
    Can you try quitting the Dropbox desktop application and editing the file? Does this issue occur again?
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    8 years ago

    You mentioned that you were opening the file through the Dropbox website. Then when asked if you were opening the file through the Dropbox folder, you said yes. These are two completely different things.

    The Dropbox folder refers to the folder that's created on your computer when you install the Dropbox software. Any files in your Dropbox account then sync to the Dropbox folder. If you're opening files from this folder, then you're not using the website.

    How, exactly, are you opening these files? The more details you provide, the easier it will be for us to understand and assist.

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!