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Why do I need a license to edit Word and Excel files now?
So this just happened today. I can't create new Word or Excel files, nor can I edit existing ones. There is now a paywall that says I need a commercial Office 365 version.
Um what?
Working for an org that has a number of remote colleagues, we rely on being able to share and collaborate on our in-progress work. Having to pay for an essential embedded program on top of a subscription, without any warning, is not cool.
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I was having this same problem for a while where I could not open Excel files online. The page would just be blank. It used to work perfectly.
It just started working again after I created a new excel spreadsheet from within the Dropbox browser interface (not editing an existing file). I was expecting to be asked to sign it, but it just created a new spreadsheet for me. I added some dummy data, and saved it to Dropbox.
Then I went back to one of my existing spreadsheets, and it opened normally with Excel online.
I suspect the licensing/authentication for the microsoft account through Dropbox got hung up, and creating a new file shook it loose.
- Iliana-DBX
Dropbox Staff
When viewing your license on the Office Portal, you want to make sure you see 'Office for the web' is listed under the appropriate business license name (Business, Business Premium, ProPlus, E3, E4, or E5).
If you do not see 'Office for the web', you will need to reach out to the administrator of the team's Microsoft account to get that app permission added. A very simple but free solution if you dont want to pay extra for office 365 :
- Download DropBox for desktop
- Link to your account
- In Sync option choose the foler you use ( To save space on your computer )
- Go to Sync directory on your PC/Laptop/Mac
- Edit the file using any supported software on your computer. (I use LibreOffice [Free OpenSource])
