Forum Discussion

hpivs's avatar
hpivs
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

Online-only files won't open

My setup is: Windows 11 22H2, Dropbox v175.4.5569, no third-party antivirus or firewall   I have my DropBox folder shared to a couple of different computers, most of these work fine and have done...
desktop
sync
windows
Nancy's avatar
Nancy
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago

Thanks the extra info, hpivs!

 

Can you please try double clicking on a file again, and then waiting a bit more before opening it via a third-party app? 

 

Before opening it, please make sure that your Dropbox app is up to date and give it some more time, even if the file has a green checkmark next to it. I’d like to make sure that it’s been fully downloaded on your computer first.

 

Also, please make sure that your Dropbox app's bandwidth isn't limited by following these steps. 

hpivs's avatar
hpivs
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

Hi Nancy,

 

I have checked that bandwidth isn't limited, everything is in order here.

 

So, on the initial double click the third party app is started as a background process, I can see it open in Task Manager. Dropbox then downloads the file, and the tick goes green, yet the file doesn't open, dropbox appears to stop syncing at this point and the file appears to be successfully downloaded.

 

A second double click on the now downloaded file results in it not opening again, instead another background process of the third party app is opened. Further double clicks just result in more background processes.

 

If I terminate all background processes of the third party app and then double click the file again it will open straight away.

 

This whole process is repeatable by attempting to open another file which is currently not synced locally.

 

It is such a strange and annoying problem.

 

Thanks for your help.

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

    This is an interesting behavior, indeed. 

     

    Can you let me know if your desktop app has already been updated to the latest stable app version? 

     

    If it has, we can log a ticket for you and investigate this internally.

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