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kpmj's avatar
kpmj
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago
Solved

Cannot open PowerPoint presentations from a shared folder on Dropbox

Hello, I keep getting an error message (see below) when I try to open powerpoint presentations created by someone else in a shared Dropbox folder. I can open the ones I add to the folder. I disable...
desktop
Error Messages
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  • kpmj's avatar
    kpmj
    7 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone, the issue was due to the antivirus software. Our IT guy played around with it and the issue is now resolved. Thanks once again!

anonymous's avatar
anonymous
7 years ago
Do you get the exact same type of message on non-Office files? What OS are you running?
kpmj's avatar
kpmj
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago

I have a Windows 10 Enterprise Version 1709 and yes I cannot open pdf files as well. The error is different, it says "there was an error opening this document. The file cannot be accessed by the system".

 

Thanks!

 

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    7 years ago

    Sounds like actually the file folder directory is too long. 

    Windows has a limit on directories of about 250 characters (i.e. 'C:\My Documents' is 15). If it is longer than 250 then they cannot be opened. 

    Try renaming some of the files/folders to a shorter naming structure and you should find they open fine :)

    • kpmj's avatar
      kpmj
      Helpful | Level 5
      7 years ago

      Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. I will have to work with the person who created the folder to do that. I am just not sure why only I would have this issue when other people are also using the same files and they can open them just fine. 

      • Mark's avatar
        Mark
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        7 years ago

        Its possible that the folder structure is very close to the limit on their machines, but, you are over ever so slightly due to a different name maybe (e.g. your My Documents folder name therefore being longer), or, just your Dropbox in a different location. 

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