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jmsgwd's avatar
jmsgwd
Collaborator | Level 8
9 years ago
Solved

"Please enable browser-cookies..." message when trying to view file contents in browser

Hi, I can log in to dropbox.com and browse my folder structure, but when I click on a .txt file to view its contents I get the following error message:   "Please enable browser-cookies to use the Dr...
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  • jmsgwd's avatar
    jmsgwd
    8 years ago

    Just a quick update to say, this issue appears to be resolved.

     

    I can now view text files in dropbox.com using the current version of Chrome on macOS without any issues.

     

    I don't know what changed, but I assume something got fixed, in the dropbox.com website, or in Chrome, or somewhere.

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
9 years ago

Hey jmsgwd, 

 

Hmmmm... :thinking: Let's try a couple of things together! 

 

There's a plugin that's probably the culprit and is blocking visual elements of the app loading correctly! 

 

First off, are you experiencing this in a work environment (eg. are there any security settings, such as an antivirus plugin on your browser)? 

Secondly, have you tried repeating through an incognito sessionn and see if this persists? 

 

Looking forward to hearing back from you here! 

jmsgwd's avatar
jmsgwd
Collaborator | Level 8
9 years ago

Hi Jane, thanks for helping.

 

To answer your questions:

  • I don't have any browser plugins, nor am I working in a corporate environment
  • I'm running vanilla Chrome on vanilla macOS
  • If I run in "incognito" mode, the behaviour is the same

I noticed a few other things:

  • If I allow third-party cookies (Chrome > Preferences > Advanced > Privacy and Security > Content Settings... > Cookies > Block third-party cookies > disable), then the problem goes away - however, I obviously don't want to do this permanently because it is a massive security risk and allows web sites to track you with impunity
  • The web page that displays text file contents is served from dropbox.com (where I signed in), but appears to fetch content from other domains e.g. dl.dropboxusercontent.com. The area that prompts for login appears to be an iframe.

Based on the above, it looks like dropbox.com may be making assumptions about third-party cookie behaviour that are not compatible with the default third-party cookie policies in Chrome.

 

Has anyone tried to reproduce the issue by viewing a text file at dropbox.com in Chrome on macOS?

  • jmsgwd's avatar
    jmsgwd
    Collaborator | Level 8
    9 years ago

    Bump.

     

    Has anyone tried to reproduce the issue by viewing a text file at dropbox.com in Chrome on macOS?

  • macbikegeek's avatar
    macbikegeek
    New member | Level 2
    9 years ago

    Yes, working fine for me, although I found this thread because I'm having problems like those described here with other sites.

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