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I exported a .band file (GarageBand project) to Dropbox, then later copied it and tried to open it again on GarageBand. I got an error that GarageBand couldn’t read the file format. When I contacted Apple/GarageBand support they told me that Dropbox doesn’t save these project files on the right format. How can I get this file back up and working on GarageBand?
Hi @djessel; thanks for joining our Community and sorry to hear about this.
Could you please let me know some additional information so we can have a better look into the matter?
For starters, are you on a desktop device or a mobile one? Were/are both apps in play up to date, namely on the latest stable versions of the apps?
Also, how exactly did you copy the file after having exported it to Dropbox? Have you tried downloading it and opening it locally on a computer with the appropriate software?
Could you check the file's whole name (or better yet, its complete file-path) to see if the extension is missing somehow?
If you could include screenshots of the particular error you're getting, I'd appreciate a bunch.
Thanks!
Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Thanks for getting back to us here @djessel!
When you uploaded the file to Dropbox, it wouldn't have edited or converted the file in anyway.
When you uploaded the file to Dropbox did you perhaps rename the file at all? I'm wondering if perhaps there is a stray space after the extension perhaps.
Otherwise, can you try exporting the file to your device's local storage and then open the file in the GarageBand app from there?
Also, can you let me know which version of the Dropbox app on your iPhone and the device's iOS version?
Keep me posted!
Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
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Thanks for checking on that @djessel, and apologies for the delayed reply here!
Were you editing this file only through your iPhone, or also through the Mac version of the GarageBand app too?
Can you let me know how much space you have free on your device's storage?
From some digging, I can also suggest trying out some of the steps outlined here, which was suggested for another person receiving the same error message that you mentioned.
Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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I see, it would be difficult to know for certain where the issue occurred there @djessel.
It certainly wouldn't be expected that the file becomes corrupted when uploading to Dropbox, but perhaps there was an issue when the file was exported or during upload.
Perhaps one last step I can suggest would be to create a new project and see if you can import the info from this file.
Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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It could all be coming down to the file type @djessel, GarageBand files are known to be package files.
Those files appear to be a single file when viewed on an Apple computer or iOS device but they actually contain many other files and are represented as a folder on non-Apple computers and most web browsers.
To ensure compatibility across your devices in the future, you can follow these steps to upload those files.
What were the steps you followed when you first uploaded the mentioned .band file to your account?
Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Hi there!
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