Linux panel icon "Launch Dropbox Website" opens the Signal application, and not a web browser.

I have Dropbox installed on Ubuntu, and it's working ok. But when I try to open the Dropbox site by clicking on its icon and then choosing "Open Dropbox site" I get the message:

Firefox can’t find the file at /tmp/dbxlshxoiqsn.html#967ec293624c8a738afdf351df94e5fce3eb3ed6bc22cf705c77a8e21d8ff62cf72561580c574e5d4cb049.

Of course this file doesn't exist.

How can I refresh Dropbox to create a new one?

Hi el_gallo_azul, thanks for messaging the Community!

The option to open the site should open a browser on your machine.

Is it possible that you have your OS set up to open certain links within the Signal app by default? Are you able to reset those settings on your device?

llazarte, the tmp file is created by Dropbox to be opened in a browser and then open the site. Is your OS preventing the creation of that file?

Keep me updated with any progress!

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your reply.

1. Yes, the option to open the site opens a browser tab.

2. I don't know when Dropbox creates this temporary file. It was working and now it isn't so I don't think the OS (Ubuntu) is preventing the creation of this file. Anyway, I will explore this possibility.

3. Do you think that reinstalling Dropbox could solve this issue? (I am afraid of messing up which is already working)

Thanks again,

Leonardo

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll try reinstalling.

Anyway I have just confirmed that this is an issue with Ubuntu 21.10.

I upgraded another computer which was opening the Dropbox site with no complaints and bingo, now it complains about "file not found".

When I installed the "Signal" application, that's all I did. I had previously set "Brave Browser" as my default web browser when I installed it, approximately 100 years ago.

I just checked "Default applications", and I attach the screenshot: 

Ubuntu 16.04.

Hi el_gallo_azul,

You can perform alternative check using following in terminal:

xdg-settings get default-web-browser
xdg-settings get default-url-scheme-handler http
xdg-settings get default-url-scheme-handler https

If everything seems Ok, but the issue persists, try save some web page locally (doesn't matter what exactly - just for check). Find out the place of main HTML file (typically carries the page title as file name). Execute following:

xdg-open file:/<path/to/your/just/downloaded.html>

Where <path/to/your/just/downloaded.html> is path to downloaded page main file (as the pseudo path "suggests" 😉). What is the application that gonna run? 🧐 If need, change the default application for the HTML file using Properties in Nautilus and try 'xdg-open' again.

Hope this gives direction.

Done. I checked "Launch Dropbox Website", and it works again. 👍

Boo hoo.

It's not over yet. I just discovered that if I reset the default application to a browser, and then start Signal again, the default application is changed back to Signal somehow. I've tried to find how, but I don't know yet.