Dropbox not opening excel documents in excel online

[tjl1]

I was opening a specific document in a team folder via a static shortcut saved in chrome which worked well for a few days.

Last night it stopped opening in chrome, both via the link and by opening the file in dropbox onoine, then choosing open -> "Excel for the web".

Following the same link or opening using the "Open -> Excel for the Web" method works fine in firefox

[Jay]

Hi @tjl1, thanks for contacting us!

What is the exact error message you're getting? Have you updated the browser or any extensions recently?

Could you try using incognito/private browsing mode without any extensions running, clearing your cache and even resetting your browser entirely?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!

[tjl1]

Thanks Jay,

When attempting to open the file from the link in chrome or via the Open -> Excel for the Web menu, I get a blank screen. The page calls the correct resources, evidenced by the status messages bottom left of an open chrome window but finishes at a blank screen.

Opening in firefox has no issue.

This is an issue that has startd to affect multiple workstations (4 so far), all with the same symptoms of being unable to open the file in excel online on chrome, but having no problems with firefox.

I have tried opening in Incognito mode, disabling all extensions, clearing the cache (Ctrl-F5), but do not want to reset my browser unless absolutely necessary as it will take hours to re-enter settings and configuration. To be honest, i would rather continue with using Firefox as a workaround than go ahead with that for all users. 

[Jay]

It sounds like there is an issue with Chrome itself preventing the browser from loading the page. There could be something in it preventing connections to official Dropbox domains.

As we've not heard about similar cases, it's possible this is something on your workstations which could be affecting the connection in Chrome, such as a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router issues.

[tjl1]

I would tend to agree with you, however the file worked for a few days before failing. The fact it works on firefox would suggest that its not a firewall issue.

The only other common denominator would be DNS. I changed the DNS to cloudflare on one of the machines, flushed the DNS cache and the link works again. I've changed the DNS back to our local server (which resolves to the same cloudflare server) and the link still works. I hope that it stops working again so I can test whether just a /flushdns solves the issue or not.

...It's always DNS  

[Jay]

Thanks for the update, let me know if the issue persists again in future!