.docx can't be saved from Word

[Jane]

Hey @shepbostin, 

Welcome aboard, I'd be glad to work on that with you! 

Because I'd like to follow the same steps, just to see if I receive the same behavior, I'd like know some more details on the case (eg. are you working on a mobile or on the website, what do you see when you login on Dropbox, what steps are you following etc.)?

Also, I'd appreciate a screenshot (omitting personal info) of what you're seeing (do you get any error messages  etc.) in your next message!

Looking forward to your reply! 

[shepbostin]

Thanks for your reply, Jane. The problem I am having is with saving a document from ANY Office program to my Dropbox. Here are my specs:

- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, fully updated

- Microsoft Office Professional 2013, fully updated

- Dropbox client software for Windows v33.4.23; using only 5.1% of my 1TB of space

I get the same errant behavior regardless of which Office application I use, but here are the steps to reproduce in Microsoft Word:

1. Open Word to a new, blank document.

2. Type "This is a test." in the document and click the "Save" button (the floppy icon at the top).

3. Be sure to be pointing to the Dropbox folder (CDropbox, in my case).

4. Give the file a name such as "TEST" with the file type set to "Word Document", and click the "Save" button.

5. The file save fails with the error, "A file error has occurred. (CDropbox\TEST.docx)", and you are returned to the "Save" dialog.

6. You may repeat steps 4 & 5 multiple times and get the same result. 

7. The only resolution I have found is to change from the .docx file format to the .doc format, which can cause the loss of any of the newer (post-2007) formatting. 

***UPDATE: This problem has become inconsistent. It had been happening consistently, without fail, on every document save, for the last few weeks. Suddenly, it seems to happen sporadically but then it will often work if I wait for a while. So it seems like either Windows, Office, or Dropbox has had an update that has improved some kind of locking that affected the *.???x Office file formats on Dropbox ONLY.*** 

***UPDATE TO MY UPDATE: I am still getting an error consistently in Excel. I cannot save a file in .xlsx format to Dropbox - only to my "local" folders.***

Any idea what has been going on?

[Jane]

Hey @shepbostin, 

Sorry to get back to you in delay, I think I've figured out the culprit. 

I followed the same steps, though I couldn't experience the same behavior. To my mind it might be an issue that has been reported on the Microsoft Community before here, here & here. I'm just posting these links here to help you determine the cause. 

To further proceed towards resolution, I'd advise checking whether this persists outside Dropbox. Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel  and select "Quit Dropbox". Once you've stopped any Dropbox-related processes, you'll have to follow the same steps once again (creating a new document). If the issue persists, then there’s probably a pending update or a setting that needs to be applied, so you may need to reach out to Microsoft. 

Please keep me updated here, so that we take it from there!

Thanks! 

[lmccuistian]

I am a Dropbox admin with about 250 users.  We are all using Office 2013.  We are experiencing the same behavior as described in this thread.  I can confirm the problem goes away completely when we exit the Dropbox application.  This has been the work around I have been providing users, which is not a good one.

Basically, when you try to save a Office document into your Dropbox folder on your local PC and receive an error, just close out of Dropbox and try to save again.  It works flawlessly.  Then open Dropbox again to ensure the file is backed up to Dropbox website.

I have contacted Dropbox support and their answer was "it is a Microsoft problem" but that is all they could tell me....If anyone has any ideas what we can do to prevent this behavior, it would be greatly appreciated.

[GloriP]

Ongoing problem. But if I save to onedrive, icloud, or my own device, voila, zero problem. It has been going on for months. I have lost valuable work. Last time Dropbox said it was a word problem, tsk,tsk, no, read above. Dropbox has a big hole. Fix it!