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Forum Discussion
Microsoft Office files won't open for a specific user with an error
Integration Affected
Microsoft Office
Device
Surface Laptop 5
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Windows 11
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
238.4.6075
Question or Issue
One of our employees is experiencing an issue with opening files saved in Dropbox intermittently. Others are able to open the files and the user can usually open the file after a few minutes have passed. This happens both when a file was just modified by another user and when a file has not been modified in days and no one else has the file open. It also occurs if a file is saved with "Autosave" toggled on or toggled off. The user can open the file via the File Explorer context menu to open the file in Dropbox.com and then in PowerPoint/Excel/Word.
Is there a way to fix this as the work around takes time and interferes with the employee's workflow.
Image Description: Screenshot of MS PowerPoint error box saying that the file cannot be opened, with a file path for what seems to be the Dropbox backend server for collaboration-enabled Dropbox-saved Microsoft Office files.
3 Replies
Their local folder, yes. It seems to be the file path length, we'll work on addressing it that way for now. Thanks!
- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, BCC_Admin.
Just to make sure I have this right, is your employee having this issue in their local Dropbox folder or our website?
If it's the Dropbox folder, can they quit the app and then try to open the file and see if it opens while the app is closed?
Also, how many characters long is the file path? Is it below 260 characters?
If not, can they move it somewhere closer to their main Dropbox folder to see if helps?
Let me know how it goes!
