'Empty files cannot be uploaded'

[Nepxh04]

I have recently set up a basic account to try Dropbox out. I have successfully managed to upload some videos and photos from my iphone to my dropbox account. I have hardly used any of the allowance I have. I am now trying to do the same and I keep getting the message 'empty files cannot be uploaded'

They are Mov or jpeg files

I have tried to uplaod to dropbox directly, saving the files on my desktop and also 'requested files' via an email link.

None work.

Going round and round in circles.

HELP!!!

[Jay]

Hi @DBurns, if you're getting this message, it means the file is usually 0 bytes, meaning it contains literally no data on it.

This is why it can't be uploaded to the site. Whatever file you were trying to upload was only uploading a 0 byte file. Are you certain that the file can be viewed normally on your computer?

[Garren]

@Jay Thanks for the feedback on the other member's queries.

I have a similar issue however my documents have data on them so why would Dropbox read them as 0 bytes?

[Nancy]

Hey @Garren, hope you don’t mind me reaching out. 

Can you send me a screenshot of the error message you mention? 

Also, which platform are you getting this error on (website or mobile/desktop app)?

[DumbbellFan]

Hi all,

I had the same issue but found that restarting helped. 

I tried uploading to onedrive and the same problem was occurring, so its probably iPhone related, not recognising that the files have data.

All the best

[Hiredranger]

Solutions on the dropbox website often tell you to use another browser but that has never made any difference for us. 

In my experience the solution is almost always to clear the browser cache to start with (with the one exception below).  I have seen this issue quite a lot from people using Edge, Firefox and Chrome.  But clearing the cache seems to be the most common solution for us. 

However there is another scenario.  When uploading files from a phone or tablet connected to a device such as a windows desktop machine or from say an iphone connected to a mac, you can avoid avoid this by copying the file to your machine from the device first and then uploading. This seems to no longer trigger the same issue and you don't even need to clear the browser cache when this is the problem.  Though it doesn't hurt to do both. 

[Brooklynd928]

I had this same issue, and was able to get around it by transferring the pictures to the computer hard drive instead of directly to Dropbox. Then I was able to upload to Dropbox with no error.
It’s kind of a pain, but at least I was able to get it done!
I am using a Chrome browser on my son’s Asus laptop, and transferring directly from a Canon Rebel camera with an SD card.

[ywriter_user]

When I try to upload a project folder, I'm losing half my project contents including project content and autobackups, which makes this unusable. The file structure is, for instance: Project folder (the uploaded folder, containing files and folders) > Autobackups folder > backup folder > zip file. That means that Autobackup is full of only other folders, which then contain things, and apparently that is enough for it to flag all of those files as "empty" (despite containing ... all my backups) and won't upload. I'm lucky I noticed before I lost anything for good.

Is there a solution to this?

[Hannah]

Hey @ywriter_user, I moved your post to this relevant thread.

Can you take a look at the info and troubleshooting steps here, to see if anything helps?

[ywriter_user]

I use Firefox on a Windows 10 machine. There is no active yWriter mobile version and I don't write on a phone, so there'd be no point in testing mobile options.

-The project folders are local to the computer from which I am uploading.

-There is no relevant error message as mentioned in the posts from the thread my issue has been added to; the pertinent subfolders simply fail to appear on upload.

-Cache clearance changes nothing.

Google's data ownership policies/sale of user data are disqualifying, so Chrome is not in the running as a general safety requirement, but I tested it for laughs.

Using Chrome, you can upload the same project folder and only some of the folders will disappear (specifically, folders that only contain subfolders, given that those subfolders contain data, will make it). It's fun that that's different, but it only solves the deletion of backup files in this scenario, not the deletion of other project folders.

A solution would be appreciated, given that it worked in Firefox.

[Jay]

Hi @ywriter_user, we appreciate the feedback. 

Currently, it isn't possible to upload zero-byte files or empty folders to the Dropbox site. Are the zip backups you mentioned 0 bytes?