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Files failing to save in Dropbox

Files failing to save in Dropbox

qualiyah
Helpful | Level 6

I keep having this problem. I'll be working on a document or powerpoint and try to save it in Dropbox, and it just...won't save.

 

It doesn't seem to happen if it's a document that was already saved in Dropbox, and I am updating it. It only happens when I try to save a brand new document, or when I try to save a document under a new name (which basically makes it a brand new document). I'll do "save as," set it to save in a Dropbox folder, and title the document 5M.docx, and it sets to work doing that...and then it just reverts back to being an untitled document, and when I look in the folder, the document is not saved in there.

 

This is obviously a huge problem--I've lost work to this several times.

 

This never happens except when I'm trying to save in my Dropbox folder--it's definitely specific to Dropbox. It doesn't do this every time I try to save something to Dropbox, but it does it a decent percentage of the time. When it happens, I have to save the **bleep** document on my desktop instead, and then drag it into the Dropbox folder, which works fine.

 

I haven't been able to find anyone else talking about this problem! Does anyone know what is going on and how I can get this to stop happening?

36 Replies 36

Daphne
Dropbox Staff

If you're still getting the error when the app is not running, then it would point that the issue isn't being caused by the app itself, @bropdox.

 

Could you send me a screenshot of the error that you're getting, when trying to save a file within Dropbox?

 

If you're trying to save the file within a relatively long folder path, can you try saving the file in the top level of the Dropbox folder to see if that makes any difference?


Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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bropdox
Helpful | Level 6

The problem happens even in the top level Dropbox folder.

 

There actually isn't an error message. And what happens is hard to capture in a screen shot.

Let's say I have a document named "Test" and I want to "save as" as "Test. v2".

If I go through the motions of doing this in Word, the document will look like it saved for a split second. That is, at the top of the Word window, it will say " Test - Saved to this PC" then change for a split second to "Test. v2" then immediately revert back to "Test" -- but it will no longer say saved to this PC. If I try to close the window by clicking the X in the upper right corner, Word will ask me if I want to save. If I try to "Save as" again, I will often get stuck in an endless loop of this same behavior. Eventually it either saves or I have to save it to a somewhere outside of Dropbox. 

 

Once the above sequence happens, a temp file show ups in the Dropbox folder where I was trying to save. It's in the format ~WRD####.tmp   It never goes away unless I manually delete it. 

 

If, after a failed "save as", I try to "save" the file using the old name, I will get an error: "Word cannot complete this save due to a file permission error." If I hit okay, I get the "Save as" dialogue -- then I can rename the file and it saves. 

 

lesliepratch
Explorer | Level 4

I have the same problem and Dropbox isn't helping to resolve it. I first noticed it yesterday. 

Lusil
Dropbox Staff

Hey @bropdox, if a temp file appears, it sounds like something else is interacting with the file, which could point to a third party app.

 

Could you try closing any software that could be doing this, like an antivirus or a security app?

 

Also, @lesliepratch, thanks for joining us here. 

 

Could you also check if this issue persists if you stop the desktop app from running?

 

If it does, have a look at what I mention earlier on in this post and let me know how it goes. Thanks!


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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lesliepratch
Explorer | Level 4

Does "stop the desktop app from working" mean sign out of dropbox? 

Lusil
Dropbox Staff

You don't have to sign out, just make sure that it's not running. 

 

You can find the relevant steps in Daphne's post a little bit above.


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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bropdox
Helpful | Level 6

@Lusil the only anti-virus program I have is what comes with Windows. I disabled all of that and the problem persists.  

bropdox
Helpful | Level 6

@Lusil and @Daphne , I should add -- I used to be able to save Word files if I paused syncing. That no longer works. Could this somehow be related to the Dropbox cache files? I don't know how those work... but it strikes me as odd that this problem has only gotten worse over time... as though temp files are building up somewhere.

Lusil
Dropbox Staff

Do you have any other cloud/storage/backup third party app running on your computer by any chance?


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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bropdox
Helpful | Level 6

@Lusil  I also have Box. But I ran Box and Dropbox on my previous laptop with no problems. And I don't have this save issue with Box.

I also have Code42 through my employer, but it is *not* set to back up Dropbox or Application Data files.

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