Dropbox Syncing Issue Where Updated Files Aren't Really Updated

[SonnyP]

Hi Everyone

Has anyone experienced an issue where they edit a document. Save it. Dropbox shows it was synced and updated successfully. Then went to PC 2 to open the same document after waiting for Dropbox to update/sync successfully and still see a previous version and not the latest edited version.

We have the following 2 scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Mac OSX Mojave
We have a MacBook and and MacBook Pro, both on OSX Mojave. When I used the MacBook to edit Word or Excel file and save it, as this file lives in the Dropbox folder. Dropbox will show that it synced and updated successfully.

Then I check our MacBook Pro and when I open the same file, I am looking at an older version. For example, the new version has 10 pages and the old version had 4 pages. Both Mac's show that Dropbox updated successfully.

Scenario 2 - Windows 10 Home
We have a customer who built their workflow around Dropbox and sometimes, we had maybe 6 cases reported where User 1 edited Word Doc 1. Saved it. Dropbox showed it synced and updated successfully.

Then User 2 opened Word Doc 1 and is looking at an old version and not seeing the current, edited version. User 2's PC showed that Dropbox has been updated and synced.

Both Windows PC stay on 24/7, so it's not the case where a user edited, saved, and shut off their PC.

The big issue that happened today was that 2 users spent a few hours editing a document to make it start from 3 pages to 10 and now, everyone only sees the 3 pages and not the 10 pages.

We looked into the PC that edited the pages, searched its Dropbox history, Word history and no luck, so now, they are very concerned about editing a document again and having the same results.

We told our customer to save the file locally to the PC, edit it, save it, and then upload it to Dropbox, while keeping the original file on the PC as a backup, as a workaround for now.

On our Mac testing environment, we are not behind a firewall and our experiences of this issue has been random, but does occur.

Please advise at your earliest convenience.

Sonny

[Hannah]

Hey @SonnyP, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

This is definitely a strange behavior you're reporting here.

Just wanted to clarify, whenever you're making edits to the files locally and they appear to sync, can you then access these edits online?

And when your customer makes their edits and saves the file outside of Dropbox and then uploads it, does it work?

How about the version history of Word, when they edit within Dropbox? Are the edits gone from there too?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

[SonnyP]

Hi @Hannah ,

Thank you very much. Sorry, let me explain more in detail below and let me know if you have any questions:

1. My Macbook and Mac Pro are both using the same Dropbox email account.
Not sure if this will cause an issue or not, as I have seen some comments on using Dropbox with 2 different email accounts; however, my Mac environment is using the same Dropbox email account to sign into both Mac's. The Mac environment is using the free account from Dropbox.

2. Our customer's Windows 10 environment is using 2 different email accounts. We have the main admin email and then users emails. This Windows 10 environment is using the Business account from Dropbox and has about 10 computers all signed into the user email account and the admin account is signed into 1 separate computer, the CEO.

3. For both Mac and Windows 10 environments, all documents are stored on the Dropbox folder using the Dropbox Desktop app. Users will edit by accessing their Dropbox folder and then opening the Word, Excel, or PDF files that they wish to edit.

Files are usually saved and users know to wait to see that Dropbox has said that files have been successfully updated.

This is the preferred route, as Dropbox keeps the version histories.

4. This option is not preferred, as confusion will arise when users have to download a document and save it locally, say the desktop, edit it and the upload it to Dropbox.

This way does guarantee that the latest version is on Dropbox; however, Dropbox doesn't have the version history on this document. Word does show the local version history though.

Any help is very much appreciated. At first, I thought maybe the issue is because of using the same Dropbox account for all computers, as is the case for the Mac environment; however, when I looked into our customer's environment and found that they actually have about 4 different Dropbox business accounts, that ruled out that theory.

Thank you very much,

Sonny

[Hannah]

Thanks for the additional info, Sonny.

I'll still need some clarifications, though.

Are these Word files shared between you and your customer? Meaning, are they in a folder that both your accounts share?

And also, after editing the files and saving them locally (which appear to have synced), if you then open them from dropbox.com, do you see the updated versions there, or the old ones?

[SonnyP]

Hi Hannah,

Thank you very much.

To confirm, the Word, Excel, and PDF files are living in a Dropbox folder that is shared within our customer's company. So they have 12 computers with Dropbox installed on each computer running Windows 10 Home edition.

Each computer varies on the Dropbox email address they are using to login to access the shared documents; however, the folders and documents are shared amongst each Dropbox account to be able to edit or delete files.

Within their organization, they are experiencing syncing issues where say, Document A.doc was edited to start with 2 pages and end with 10 pages. Then another user on another computer opens Document A.doc inside their Dropbox folder to see only 2 pages.

All 12 computers stay on 24/7, so it wouldn't be a case where an author edited a file and shut down the computer before it could update its data on Dropbox.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions and your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much,

Sonny

[Walter]

Hey @SonnyP, sorry to jump in here, but I wanted to mention that it sounds like your customer's company might be having a syncing issue.

Do they make sure that the Dropbox desktop app is 'up to date' and not still syncing (in their system tray/menu bar) their edits when they try to update the shared files in question?

Do they all see the same set of files when they try to access those files through a web browser? 

[SonnyP]

Hi Hannah,

Thank you very much. In answering your questions:

Are these Word files shared between you and your customer? Meaning, are they in a folder that both your accounts share?

   - Sorry. No. In our customer's environment, Word, Excel, and PDF files are being shared

   amongst employees in a Windows 10 Home environment.

And also, after editing the files and saving them locally (which appear to have synced), if you then open them from dropbox.com, do you see the updated versions there, or the old ones?

   - All shared files are living in a Dropbox Folder that was created by installing the Dropbox

   desktop app. Most files sync fine. Some random files had the syncing issue where on

   PC-1, the user edited say, a PDF with 2 pages and edited to where it had 10 pages.

   Dropbox showed that the file had updated successfully on PC-1.

   PC-2, a different user opened the same PDF file and saw 2 pages and not 10 pages.

   PC-2's Dropbox showed that syncing has finished successfully too before the 2nd user

   opened the same PDF file.

   All computers have the latest version of Dropbox desktop installed.

   Sorry, no one opens the documents using a web browser, as they prefer the convenience

   of editing and viewing files locally.

Thank you very much for your assistance on this. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Sonny

[SonnyP]

Hi @Walter ,

Thank you very much. No worries. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. In answering your questions:

Hey @SonnyP, sorry to jump in here, but I wanted to mention that it sounds like your customer's company might be having a syncing issue.

   - I think so too, as with our customer's Windows 10 Home environment, most documents

   do not have this issue and maybe in the past 6 months, 2-3 documents had syncing

   issues.

   - In our Mac environment, I had experienced this and could easily recreate it too. In our

   Mac environment, our test file was "TestFile.doc" We added data to total 2 pages using a

   MacBook Pro.

   Then using a Mac Pro with both having the Dropbox Desktop app installed and using the

   same Dropbox email account, the Mac Pro could open the "TestFile.doc" and see all 2

   pages.

   Then, a few times later of editing the same file on the Macbook Pro and Mac Pro

   separately, meaning that the file was edited on the MacBook Pro on a Tuesday. It was

   synced with a green check arrow. Then on a Thursday, the Mac Pro opened the same file

   after the Dropbox app showed that it had synced successfully to show an older version of

   the same document.

Do they make sure that the Dropbox desktop app is 'up to date' and not still syncing (in their system tray/menu bar) their edits when they try to update the shared files in question?

   - Yes. For our customer's environment, all 12 PC's are left on 24/7 and when the Dropbox

   app pops up that there's an update, we update it. All users are trained to wait for the

   Dropbox app on each PC they use to have it display that it has successfully synced and

   that all files are up to date.

   - In our own Macbook Pro and Mac Pro environment, the syncing issue could easily be

   replicated as follows:

      1. MacBook Pro creates a "TestFile.doc" that has 2 pages. File is saved and Dropbox

      shows a green checkmark on it. Dropbox app in the title bar shows that it had

      successfully synced.

      2. MacPro opens this same "TestFile.doc" after the Dropbox box app shows that files

      were successfully synced and a green arrow showing on the file's thumbnail.

      3. MacBook Pro and MacPro can edit this file at separate times and not opening them

      at the same time with no issues.

      4. Eventually, MacBook Pro or MacPro will open the same file and see a previous version.

      This occurs after waiting to see the green checkmark on the file's thumbnail and the

      Dropbox app showing that files were synced. I can even see for example, that it was

      synced successfully 1 minute ago, yet, seeing an older file.

Thank you very much for your assistance on this. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sonny

Do they all see the same set of files when they try to access those files through a web browser? 

[Megan]

Hi @SonnyP, I appreciate your details! 

I checked the entire thread, but I couldn't find anywhere mentioned, the Dropbox version that each device uses. Can you clarify, and let me know? 

You can do this by locating your Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi and then hovering your mouse there.

In any case, it might be helpful that (you or your client, depending on who's facing the issue at the moment) to reach out to our Support, in order for them to be able to have a more account-specific look into this, and suggest next steps. 

[SonnyP]

Hi @Megan ,

Thank you very much. I did report this to support and my ticket was closed on the assumption that the files were not following the naming guidelines from Dropbox, which they were.

The Windows 10 computers are on version v165.4.4286.

For our Mac environment, they are on verions v164.4.7914.

Just to clarify, our mac environment is used for testing. The Windows 10 environment is what's been in production for several years, so the 2 environments are separate and do not share the same files.

Thank you very much.

Sonny