Dropbox M1 (Apple Silicon) Mac "Open With.." issue.

[mickliq]

I rely heavily on "deep links" to open Dropbox files in native Mac Apps.  I upgraded to a new M1 MacBook Pro and updated Dropbox to the version that supports Apple Silicon and Big Sur.  Dropbox synching works fine, but if I click on a link (from a colleague over Slack, for instance), when it opens the file in the browser, I no longer have the option to "Open with..." local Mac apps.  For instance, we use Microsoft Apps (Word/Excel/Powerpoint) and whereas it for instance used to show the local Word app for a doc/docx file, it now only shows Word Online.  That's super annoying because the Online versions are much more limited.

I believe this may be a Flash issue, as it seems the "Open with..." menu somehow relies on Flash, and Flash support is ending in December -- I'm wondering if Flash is just not supported on M1 Macs period (I have Flash installed but no idea if it's working or not).

I've tried several browsers (Safari, FireFox, Chrome, Edge, Opera) and the same issue with all browsers, so it's not a browser issue.

My workaround for right now, is to use the Dropbox status bar icon and the "Teams" icon to find the latest files my colleagues have uploaded, but this doesn't work for anything older than a day or two since they get buried.

Any ideas on way forward here?  Given the death of Flash, surely Dropbox needs to come up with a new solution?!

[Lusil]

Hi there @mickliq, thanks for dropping by. 

Could you make sure that the desktop app is running when you navigate through the web to find the "Open with" button?

You can check that by seeing if the Dropbox icon sits on the menu bar, next to your computer's clock. 

If it is there, could you also let me know what it shows when you hover over it? 

Give me a nudge whenever you have the time to check this out!

[mickliq]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, of course Dropbox is running (I referred to in as part of the workaround...)

What I see in the "Open with" depends on the file type I choose, but basically for "Office" type files, it will suggest a choice of relevant Office 365 Online app and Google docs app.  Again in my example of a doc/docx file, it would show Open in Word Online or Google Docs.  For an xls it would suggest Excel Online or Google Sheets...and so on.

[mickliq]

Sorry I hit send too quickly.

In terms of what it says in the status bar when I hover over it, it says Dropbox 111.3.447 | Up to date

[Lusil]

In this case, have a quick look through this article, which mentions a few things to check if the "Open" button doesn't appear. 

Also, have you tried manually enabling Flash on your browser? Maybe that will do the trick.

[mickliq]

Thanks, I've been through that post and others on similar topics.  None of it is helpful.

In Chrome 87, there's no manual enablement of Flash - it's supposedly built-in.  I've checked in the other browsers and it's enabled by default.  As I said, I think the issue is that with M1 Macs, Apple may have disabled Flash support altogether because Flash support ends this December.

I believe Dropbox has to come up with another solution that is not reliant on Flash to enable this feature so I would raise it with the dev team in terms of when that's likely to occur?!?

[Lusil]

We can always look into this a bit more in-depth if you'd like. 

Could you have a look at this page to see your options for contacting our Support team?

[Theodore S.1]

Also having this problem and would love an update.

[Walter]

Thanks for the nudge on this one @Theodore S.1. 

I just dropped by to let you know that our team is aware and currently looking into this. 

We'll make sure to keep you posted if have an update on this!

[mickliq]

Thanks for the update!