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Forum Discussion
Solved
"This file has been moved" error when trying to open Excel files in the Dropbox folder
Integration Affected
Microsoft 365 (specifically Excel)
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Windows 11
Question or Issue
One of our users started getting errors yesterday when trying to open Excel documents that are stored within the Dropbox folder. The file opens, but brings up the following error:
The file has not been moved, nobody else has this problem currently. It only happens when the file is within the dropbox folder on her computer. If we copy the file to a location outside of dropbox, it's fine.
Searching the internet, it seems people who use Box (which I'm assuming is similar to Dropbox), are starting to have the same problem. It was reported in their community beginning on Nov 25, 2025 and more and more people are replying to it complaining of the same issue. A few different "fixes" were suggested by their IT which did not fix the problem and yesterday they say they have determined that it's a bug related to the latest Seamless Login release from Microsoft. Just throwing this out there in case it helps the issue to be resolved with Dropbox quicker.
So far, only one of our team members is having this issue. Please help.
I contacted Dropbox support and got this as a response.
Tommy, Dec 14, 2025, 11:35 PM PST:
Hi there,
Thanks for contacting Dropbox Support! My name is Tommy, and I'll be happy to assist you with your request.
From what I understand, you'd like to inquire in regards to an issue with opening Microsoft Excel files.
I’m happy to share that the Excel issue you reported has now been resolved by Microsoft and should be working properly.
If you continue to experience any problems, please ensure that your Microsoft Office 365/Excel application is fully up to date.
Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please let us know if you encounter any further issues, or if you have any other Dropbox questions.
Regards,
Tommy | Dropbox SupportI personally haven't been experiencing this issue any longer, so hopefully this means everything is working now!
17 Replies
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I contacted Dropbox support and got this as a response.
Tommy, Dec 14, 2025, 11:35 PM PST:
Hi there,
Thanks for contacting Dropbox Support! My name is Tommy, and I'll be happy to assist you with your request.
From what I understand, you'd like to inquire in regards to an issue with opening Microsoft Excel files.
I’m happy to share that the Excel issue you reported has now been resolved by Microsoft and should be working properly.
If you continue to experience any problems, please ensure that your Microsoft Office 365/Excel application is fully up to date.
Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please let us know if you encounter any further issues, or if you have any other Dropbox questions.
Regards,
Tommy | Dropbox SupportI personally haven't been experiencing this issue any longer, so hopefully this means everything is working now!
I'm unsure if Microsoft did another update or what, but my user said everything seems to be working now and she didn't make any changes. It seems to have resolved itself. Sorry I can't help anyone who is still experiencing the same issue.
I was having the same problem. Solved it.
Go to File > Account > Connected Services:
Remove "Dropbox for Teams"
Restart Excel
As a workaround, you can enable auto-save feature via Options -> Save -> "AutoSave files stored in the Cloud by default in Excel" and that message won't appear, however, it doesn't explain the root cause of the issue.
- Dell_Dropbox
Community Manager
Hey everyone, we've been looking into this issue and we'd love your help in flagging this to Microsoft if you've been affected. You can do that by:
- Open a Microsoft Office app.
- Click the icon in the top right corner.
- Select "Report a problem."
- Describe your issue and include the hashtag #cspp-dropbox-filename-encoding-error
This will allow Microsoft to search for the exact logs and investigate the issue. I have also started having this issue. Does anyone know if this is causing files not to save correctly across the team?
I found a way to avoid the problem just momentary until we get a solution from Microsoft or Dropbox,
If you open an excel file on the computer all good
If you move the file to any Dropbox folder it show the error again
"This file has been moved"But, if you open the file on Dropbox online, from there to the excel on the web, and from there to the excel on your desktop, on some way it works with no problem and you can save the files good.
the 3 steps to avoid the error
step 1 on your explorer go to the file you need to work and make right button
step 2 open on dropbox.com
step 3 open on excel for web
open on desktop in desktop
The file will let you work normally.
For reopen repeat the same steps.
Let me know if you have another solution please!!!!
Yesterday, i have the same issue, we try the same things:
- Update Microsoft office to the latest version 365
- Update dropbox to the last version after uninstall it from the dropbox.com site
- We verify the hard drive has enough space for synchronize the files.
- Delete the data on the recycle bin
- Restart the computer after ever installation
Results:
After update the office - same problem continue for the files in all dropbox of excel the user make and show the links to update some data are no good.
After update the dropbox- start working good and we can open the files with out the label this file have been moved, saved it now for we can finish the move
After look the harddrive we look only 33 gb available and we clean the data as most posible
and delete the trash bin, we clean more that 700gb . same issue continue
So we are still having the same issue
We will try now to change the folder of Dropbox to avoid indexing wrong , lets se if it works.
Making just the change of folder, fail, because the same folders move to the same place and the problem remains.
Now i will try to make a new installation and put a new folder not the same .
Nop same error arrived again
Here same issue, I read suggestions that the path would be to long for Excel???
Should we change to Onedrive from Microsoft?
I have been encountering this issue for weeks.
