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Issues editing Word documents with Dropbox

Issues editing Word documents with Dropbox

megx
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

Hi 

I have for ages had the practice of going outdoors and editing word documents stored in dropbox on my phone or tablet with Microsoft Word app

 

This has always worked like a dream, any changes would be automatically saved with no error messages and synced to all devices.

 

Now I am getting error messages about "changes made by other user, your file can't be saved"  or "can't upload file" sometimes AFTER I've done a stack of work in that file, so all those edits are lost.  Or the file will open "read only" !

 

It seems I have to save a new version with a new name every time I open a file on my phone before I can be sure it will do edits without some drama or other.

 

Dropbox folder on my computer is working perfectly.

 

This is driving me insane as  I do this work every day, and had no issue til now. 

 

Any ideas?

64 Replies 64

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Thanks for that. Are you on WiFi when making this change? 
 
Were you using the Office Online web-based version, or the installed Word app on your iPad?
 
I’d recommend all users to forward details about this to our team here in order for us to investigate this matter further? Thanks!

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Eja99
Helpful | Level 6
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Thanks Jay. I was using the installed word app. When making the edits I was offline, and then when I reconnected to the internet there was an erro saying changes could not be uploaded and I had to save a copy of the document. If I am online the entire time then theres no issue.  

 

 

Chris_J
Super User
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Yikes, so sorry you are having this issue.  I would suggest opening up a Support Ticket on this https://www.dropbox.com/support

I will try to escalate this.  Sorry I don't have a clue 


-------------------------


if this works and it was a solution, please click on Accept as Solution.  Also clicking on Likes would be super.  Thanks!

Frank_S
Dropbox Staff
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Hi @megx

 

My name is Frank and I’m a member of the Dropbox specialist team. I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with saving files to your Dropbox account! 

 

Can you let me know where you are seeing those error messages; Do they display within the Microsoft Word app itself or in the Dropbox app? A screengrab of the error would be really helpful for us to understand the source of this problem too. Thank you in advance!

 

Regards,

Frank

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Interesting… Could you send us an email here in order for our support team to investigate this matter further?
 
Any extra details you can provide there would be great!

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Anicestorm
New member | Level 2
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I am having the same issue! I’ve noticed it for a month, but it has escalated and now I can’t even make a simple comment in a word document without triggering this error. Please help! I am a novelist and I can’t constant be renaming a document for every sentence.

Eja99
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

Update, now is no longer syncing with with Dropbox even when connected to wifi. I have to save a new copy each time I make changes. Dropbox support indicated it was a Microsfoft issue, but I still haven’t been able to resolve. 

Sanchez
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
I think we should go with @Jay’s suggestion, and get your cases into our support system for further review. If you haven’t already done so, please submit your tickets here, so our team can take a closer look. 

Thanks!

Sanchez
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Eja99
Helpful | Level 6
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Hi Sanchez, I did that. The response was that it’s a microsoft issue. I haven’t been able to get any resolution from Microsoft either. 

SandersKev
Explorer | Level 3
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I am using dropbox on a PC (windows 7, no issues there) and a OnePlus 3T phone, running Android 8.0.0. I have an excel file in my dropbox that I like to update (and have been updating for a while) on both the devices, however lately I've been encountering issues when attempting to update it from my phone.

 

I appear to be unable to use the "save" function but am able to "save as", hence I am unable to update/replace the existing file from my phone. The file is not open on my PC, nor has it been marked as read-only on any device. Saving from PC works just fine.

 

Any ideas as to why my phone is suddenly unable to update/replace the file and thus has me save copies all the time?

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    GloriP Helpful | Level 5
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    MickeNy Explorer | Level 4
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    megx New member | Level 2
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