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Cannot edit some text files in Dropbox on iPhone?
In the Dropbox app on iPhone SE, I can open all my text files, but in some of them I do not get the Edit icon (looks like a cursor) at bottom left, so cannot edit them.
In others, I get the Edit icon at bottom left, and can edit them.
In both cases the text files are from the Notepad app on my Windows 10 PC.
When I cannot edit a text file, the settings and menus that I can call up do not seem to provide any solution.
Am I missing something?
Mike
K-C-L (and others following)
Thanks! You're onto the right cause, and solution ...well, workaround.
Dropbox App editor won't handle either certain characters (extended) or Windows Notepad default ANSI files. A pretty obvious shortcoming. These get rendered in a non-editable file - which looks like monospaced courier, but doesn't make a space for each <spacebar>. Go figure.
Anyway, the workarounds are:
- Convert all your Notepad ANSI files to UTF-8 (open file in Notepad, Save As..., dropdown box -> choose UTF-8 and Save. (Save all new files as UTF-8). This is what I am doing.
- Open the file in Dropbox App. Select a word, then Select All. Copy. Create new file (Text). Paste into the window, name, and Create. Kinda klugy.
Those both work - I've tested.
- There is a way to change Notepad default to UTF-8, which would prevent this from re-occurring, but you have to touch the Registry (I don't want to do that)
- Download Notepad++ which apparently can set a default without touching the Registry (cannot verify). Reportedly Notepad++ takes less resources too (don't know about that either)
OK, a PITA. But do-able. I guess.
But, the real problem is Dropbox App cannot show text files (.txt) in monospaced font (e.g. Menlo or Courier). This is basically a disqualifier for Dropbox for musicians who use text files to create Tab, or Notation files, or chord charts. That's a lot of people left out in the cold. Since they all share files, so Dropbox could / should own this market, but have shut themselves out.
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I never got a response from Dropbox.
annoying.
sent another request today.
IF I ever hear back / get a ticket number I will advise.
...don’t think that article Mike got on Google about 10 worst fonts is of any import, so ignoring that.
Cardinal2B wrote:
I never got a response from Dropbox.
annoying.
sent another request today.
IF I ever hear back / get a ticket number I will advise.
...don’t think that article Mike got on Google about 10 worst fonts is of any import, so ignoring that.
Hi there,
Many thanks. I doubted that the fonts made any difference.
It's an annoying problem.
Hopefully Dropbox will reply soon.
Regards,
Mike
- Minato
Dropbox Staff
Hello to all,
Apologies for the miscommunication on my previous post, we're looking into this behavior.
Please raise a ticket with our support team (at
providing specific file names and screenshots this behavior is occurring so we can investigate more.Thank you! Once again...
I have tried to get a response from Dropbox Support. TWICE. I have not received a reply, except a survey asking how support was (probably you can imagine the grades were pretty low).
Yours is the other response, telling me to ask for support again (that would be a third time).
I think between us all in this thread we’ve supplied files and locations that can and cannot be edited, plus I am still waiting for response with a ticket number, so to ask me to do all this is simply stalling tactics on your part, and busy work on mine.
Tell you what, why don’t you enter / Create a ticket for me? Send it to me in an email, then I will be a bit more cooperative.
You’re the guy, after all, who said you can’t edit in the app to begin with, so...Cardinal2B -
Re "Yours is the other response, telling me to ask for support again (that would be a third time).", I thought I said "Hopefully Dropbox will reply soon", I was not telling you to do further "busy work". As for "stalling tactics", I wish I was sufficiently competent in IT to have "tactics", all I have is a stack of problems, most of which have nothing to do with Dropbox or indeed computers.
Minato has made a helpful suggestion, I'll try to reply and to open a ticket as soon as I can find a little spare time, though I already supplied examples of files with and without this problem.
Best regards,
Mike
Minato,
Thank you for your reply to all of us - I already supplied, in this thread, examples of files with and without this problem. I had only just started to upload a few text files onto Dropbox, so I doubt that I have much else that I can send.
Also, Cardinal2B has already opened a ticket on the same subject, but has at time of writing had no reply.
But if you think that it would help if I opened a ticket as well, I can try to do this, but it would not be this week, I am away on a trip.
- Mike,
Sorry, none of that was directed at you, but rather at Dropbox support who have yet to reply to my repeated requests and Minato saying make a request (when I have already as Minato should know), and some survey I got about the support I never received.
Not trolling here, but I am very frustrated.
Cardinal2B Cardinal2B - Very sorry that I mis-read you, we are in the same boat here. Like you I did spend quite a bit of time trying to work out why I could edit some .txt files but not others, even before I opened this thread.
What I did then change, feeling not in control of my own data, was:
- I uninstalled the Dropbox Folder from my PC, because I could never sign out of Dropbox with the Dropbox Folder installed.
- I deleted the Dropbox app from my iPhone, for the same reason.
My basis for both actions is my desire to have a 2nd password step between my PC/iPhone passwords (I use an alphanumeric iPhone password too, not a 6-digit passcode) and my more important files.
To anyone but me, it is probably self-evident that I cannot password and sync files across devices at the same time?????????
Back in 1943, we did not have PCs or smartphones at my primary school, so I had a disadvantaged childhood.
:slight_frown::slight_frown::slight_frown:
Best regards,
Mike
- Sanchez
Dropbox Community Moderator
Sanchez,
Thanks for looking into this.
I would not have complained if I had received any response to my requests for support.
I get email from Dropbox all the time. Weekly in fact, though looking now I can see it is from a different email address (no-reply@dropboxmail.com), which is where the Dropbox Support survey also came from. I'm not sure that users should or would know that, especially a priori.
But, I doubt this explains anything, especially as I received an email from "no-reply@dropbox.com" on Tue, Mar 20, at 8:01PM (I'm on the East Coast) about a new device signing into my account. And a similar one on Feb 19.
"no-reply@dropbox.com" was not, and is not blocked in my email system. I have added "no-reply@dropbox.com" to my contacts / address book as you requested. It's possible this is the problem, but probably no more likely than Support mis-typing my email address with a letter O instead of a zero before the @.
Perhaps you could test by sending 2 emails. One from "no-reply@dropbox.com" - and then a second one (confirming it) from <anyname>@dropboxmail.com or <anyname>@dropboxforum.com. Maybe you could include one of my ticket numbers in the emails?
Thank you!
