Microsoft word and excel only opens online version, I want to open normal excel and word

When accessing a file through a shared link, I no longer have the Open menu with the dropdown option to "Open in Word." I only have the Open button, which leads me to Microsoft Online - which I do not want to use. 


The folders in which the files are saved are shared folders in which I either own the folder or have access to edit. 

I have been able to Open in Word/application until just this week. This happens regardless of file type. Colleagues who have access to the same folders and files have the Open/dropdown menu and are able to open the file from the location. 

I know I can just go over to the folder, but that's extra steps and having it within the Dropbox link is much more convenient when working with folders with hundreds of files. 

I'm using a Macbook pro and Chrome browser. I have the latest browser and Microsoft updates. 

Any ideas? 

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Ross_S wrote:

I wonder if we have a misunderstanding of what the button does:

 

Open -> Open in Microsoft Word  = Open the actual Word doc that I already have on my desktop

 

If the doc isn't there then it will not open.

If you can't see the doc in that folder then I wouldn't expect to see that functionality.

 

Unless I missed it, can you confirm that if you navigate to that location, and double click the actual file, then it opens. If you're not able to complete this process for any reason then the option should not appear.

 

As someone (Rich?) mentioned on the prev page, this feature is just the same as double-clicking the local doc.

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Hi Ross_S,

I have the file local and I can open it in Word without issue, but the option to Open in Word 2016 does not appear for me on the website, despite having the file locally and the Dropbox client up to date. Everything is in place for it to work, but the option is simply not there.

It's not an issue for me because, as you pointed out, I can simply double-click the local file. I was simply noting that I see the same issue that the OP has reported. There's also another person reporting it, and I'm about to move their thread here. See hollymchargue's post above mine.

Jay,

Thanks for getting back to me. I'll try to answer your questions accurately. Forgive my non-technical knowledge. :)

This happens when I click on a link that's copied from a shared Dropbox folder. In fact, I'm the owner of one of the folders and have edit access on the others. As recently as last week, I was able to click on that link which opened the file preview in Dropbox, and had the option to click the Open/down arrow button, which opened up a dropdown menu that allowed me to "Open in Word" for example - depending on file type.  

More recently, when I followed that process, I only get the Open button and when I click that, it prompts me to use Microsoft Online (for Word files).  I have the option (...) to download the file. When I do that, it saves to my Downloads folder so then I have to save as to the original Dropbox shared folder. (See screenshot below)

I'm accessing these files on a Macbook where the files are also located and the Dropbox app is installed. I believe the application is installed and running properly. Is there a way to double check that? 

The files are synced locally. I am able to navigate to those folders on my computer and double click to open the files. 

I'm using my business account to access these files. 

Using Chrome. 

Could you try the steps in the following Google article for Chrome?

Thank you for the article! I read something about Flash settings in another thread yesterday so I checked those settings on my own, but it was good to have the article to make sure I did it correctly. 

Looks like Flash is allowed:

Thank you! I don't know how to check the ports, so I'll pass that on to our IT support team. Meanwhile, I'll download the latest version of Dropbox, too. 

Thank you. 

I'm not sure which did it, but I downloaded Dropbox again and relaunched Chrome with the latest version. I now have the Open/arrow button! It's a thing of beauty...

I uninstalled then reinstalled dropbox and google chrome, now it works!

Thanks

I am also having this problem for the last two days. Macbook pro, chrome, shared folder    after accesseing through microsoft word for two years, now only online word shows up. GRRRRRRRRRr

Patrice1, 

You might try reinstalling Dropbox and updating/relaunching Chrome. One of those helped me - I did both before checking.