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difaraka's avatar
difaraka
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

Error message "couldn’t communicate with a helper application" when trying to move a folder

Hi,

I'm trying to move a folder that contains folders with photos in it from my dropbox to Files App in iPad. Previously it worked wonderfully and i can move them just fine. But, now after i updated to the latest iPad iOS 16.1, i can't move folders from my dropbox to my iPad in the File App. It still works when moving the picture directly though but its a pain to create the folder manually my self.

I've tried restarting my iPad, delete my dropbox and re-installing them, and reconnecting them all those stuff but still got those error when moving a folder. Any idea how to fix it? or is it a bug in the iPad iOS 16.1?

47 Replies

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  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hi dustyanalogue, can you let me know your ticket number, in order to see all the troubleshooting steps you've followed with the agent, and locate it on my end, please? 

  • Bsimms's avatar
    Bsimms
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

    Also experiencing the same issue. I have tried downloading the files via the Files app and the Dropbox app prior to copying/pasting but it generally doesn’t work with multiple files or a folder. Single files seem to go ok

  • dustyanalogue's avatar
    dustyanalogue
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago
    Sure:
    Ticket #20092475:

    Latest ticket response:

    “Sheldon, Apr 27, 2023, 5:04 AM PDT:
    Hi Toby,

    My name is Sheldon. I am a specialist from the Advanced support team at Dropbox, and I'll be helping you today while Kate is out of the office.

    The engineers have followed up and advised that they are aware of the issue and are working on a fix that should come in a future update.

    However there is no time frame we can provide for when this will be implemented and pushed to users.

    As such we can only advise that you continue to install any updates to the application as they become available.

    I'm sorry we could not be of more help in this case.

    If you have any questions, please let me know.

    Regards,
    Sheldon
    Dropbox Advanced Support”
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Thanks for the ticket ID dustyanalogue 

     

    It's true that the team is aware of this and are actively working on a fix, but we don't have an ETA so share, unfortunately. 

     

    We'll let you know more as soon as we have an update. 

  • Always Learning's avatar
    Always Learning
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    This issue is still occurring. Any news on a fix? There IS a workaround (below)

    Dropbox App 346.4.2

    IOS 17.0.1 (iPad)

    I have removed Dropbox from Files app & rebooted

    Deleted Dropbox app, rebooted and added app again

     

    Using the Files app, I received the “couldn’t communicate with helper application” when either copying  a folder with files from Dropbox to Dropbox or to another Location, such as the iPad locally or iCloud etc. The operation does create an empty folder of the same name but fails before copying the files inside that folder.

     

    WORKAROUND: If I create the folder in the target location and then copy the files across, the operation completes without error. 

     

    Dropbox has stated this is a known error with the helper application and not related to Apple. Any news on a fix?

     

    Thank you!

  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    3 years ago

    Hi Always Learning,

     

    Thanks for reporting this. This was thought to be fixed with an update in July. I've spoken with our Engineering team, who is currently looking into why this error message has resurfaced. We will provide you with an update when we have more information.

     

    Regards,

    Ben

  • Servinjesus1's avatar
    Servinjesus1
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago
    I’ve submitted ticket # 22943883 with my similar experiences with this error. Hopefully the attention encourages continued investigation into this issue.

    I also ask if offline files in Dropbox and Downloaded Now files in Files are slated to become the same thing (right now they aren’t, I can download a file in Files and it’s not marked as offline in Dropbox and vice versa). If native support for local files and synchronization became a thing that would be awesome!!

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