After latest Dropbox update, documents on Mac are set to open with Dropbox by default

[Dario1250]

MacBook Pro M1 with the MacOS Ventura 13.1 installed. I use the Dropbox Plus plan, and I predominantly access files through my Finder app.

The Dropbox app notified me of the new update — I installed and waited for everything to sync and index. Now everytime I try to open a file from Finder (tried with .png, .pdf, .ai, .jpg and several other random filetypes), the system attempts to open the file with Dropbox, and nothing happens (the file doesn't open in the application it's supposed to open in by default). I have to go to the "Open With" right-click menu and select the proper application by hand everytime, which is a tad annoying.

Screenshots of Dropbox appearing on top of the "Open With" menu below, both with an "online-only" and an "available offline" dowloaded file.

Thanks in advance,

D.

[shapiromh]

Problem Description: When trying to open online files from the Finder, the default (presumably set by Dropbox) is to open the file in Dropbox online. A secondary issue, but this typically fails as well (see image below). The desired behavior is to automatically download the file and open the default application for the file extension, as is currently the behavior on Windows. In the "get info" screen for the file, I can change the default application manually to the correct program and get the desired behavior. However, the default will revert to Dropbox later. Additionally, even though I change the default for all similar file types, the default remains Dropbox for all other files. 

I started using the Dropbox beta a couple months ago, and this has been the behavior for the duration. 

Note this may be similar to the following post, but prior to using the beta I could not open from the Finder at all without first manually setting the file to "Make available offline": https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/View-download-and-export/Online-Files-don-t-open-on-Mac-via-Finder/m...

[PedroTytgat]

Same here. Right-clicking and choosing Open With and then the default app (that is still registered as Default!) gives the desired behavior: the file downloads and is opened with the app.

[shapiromh]

Thanks for the note. In your case does it revert back to "open with Dropbox" to the default after making this change (even if selecting "change all"). This was the particularly annoying issue I was trying to describe. 

[Walter]

Hey @Dario1250, sorry to hear about this and thanks for all the details you have provided and the screenshots too. 

Can you please clarify the desktop app's exact status and version as shown in your menu bar at the moment? 

Also, did you reboot your computer since you first noticed this happen?

Let us know and we'll take it from there.

[Dario1250]

@Walter — thanks for the response! I've rebooted my computer as well as the Dropbox App to no effect.

Here's the status of the dropbox app (from the menu bar icon):

        

Everything seems fine and up to date. Here's some additional info I noticed in the meantime:

The files and folders that were "Available Offline" before i updated Dropbox and re-indexed all the files are fine.They behave as they should, and Dropbox is not on top of their "Open With" list.

The files and folders that were "Online Only" before the update and re-indexing are the ones behaving in the way I described:

• When I make them "Available Offline", they try to open with Dropbox on double-click.
  (I know this because if I quit the Dropbox Desktop App, double clicking any of these files will re-open it.)
• Dropbox is on top of their "Open With" list, but the correct app still has "(default)" next to it. If I open the Inspector window, same thing. (See below.)
• Clicking "Open With" and selecting the correct application opens the file as it should, but doesn't fix the problem.
• Clicking "Always Open With" and selecting the correct application opens the file as it should and fixes the problem for that one individual file only, not the entire file type.

So, the upload and download work fine. The toggling between "Online Only" and "Available Offline" also shows no issues. No data is lost, the files work well. The only problem seems to be that the files that were "Online Only" before reindexing are now forever marked to be opened by Dropbox by default, while he files that were "Available Offline" before reindexing behave the same as before. I'm certain this part is key to the mystery somehow, I'm just not the detective to solve it.

Please, help!

[Walter]

Thanks for the additional information and the screenshots too @Dario1250. Could you maybe try moving them out of your Dropbox folder and then back in? 

[Ian J.10]

I have this exact same issue - also on a MacBook Pro M1 Pro.

Files that I right-click and set to "Make available offline" appear to download, a green tick appears, with the words "Available Offline" underneath. But if I double-click on the file it tries to open in Dropbox - and the Open With is set to open in Dropbox by default.

The update has broken my Dropbox workflow. 😢

[Ian J.10]

*Duplicate response*

[Megan]

Hi @Ian J.10, happy Friday! 

Which version of our app do you use on your end, and what is your OS?

Let me know more!