How do I fix a 'Word cannot open the document: user does not have access privileges' error?

[Dolphin_R]

 I have been using dropbox to store and access microsoft documents on my mac for months but out of nowhere this morning when I clicked to open a document I was told 'Word cannot open the document: user does not have access privileges'. I created the document so I don't see why there would be an issue. Does anyone have advice on how to fix this? Thank you

[Walter]

Sorry about this @Raineydays1233 - it seems like the thread I had linked above has been moved or deleted; you might want to perform a web search on your own end for the error string you're getting along with your device's OS - this might give you an insight on what could be causing this.

If you'd like me to have a look into this for you please send me a screenshot of the exact error you get. 

While you're at it, please include the device(s) and OSes that come in play and what version of Word you're using too.

Thanks!

[elliebelly]

I am having this same problem, none of the solutions here work. Seems to have happened out of the blue.

[Walter]

Sorry to hear that @elliebelly - have you tried re-installing the software installed on the affected computer? Maybe that will do the trick!

If that doesn't help, please let me know if I can reach out to your Dropbox associated email address to work on this together.

Thanks in advance!

[d3rry]

I too am having this problem, I spoke to Microsoft and they reinstalled Office 365 but it didn't solve issue. As with the other people posting here this only started relatively recently. Issue resolves with a restart but as another user points out - that's a painful solution. I am looking at moving away from dropbox despite being a customer for over 8 years.

[Joyrose28]

I'm having the same problem, also! Will try the things you mentioned.  It mostly happens when I create the document on my office computer and then try to access it on my laptop.  The error message says:

Word cannot open the document:  user does not have access privileges

[Lusil]

Hi there @Joyrose28,

Yes, please let us know if the issue is resolved for you after giving the steps mentioned in this thread a try. 

If you're still experiencing the same behavior though, could you please send us a screenshot (without any personal info) of the error message, as well as what you see when you hover over your Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock?

Thanks in advance!

[palmerpark]

I am also having this problem. Word files created on several Windows machines cannot be opened on my 2017 MacBook Pro. As of September 5, 2019 all of my OSs and Office programs were up to date. MacOS is version 10.14.6 (18G95), Dropbox version is v79.4.143. Office was downloaded from scratch a few days ago. On startup, Dropbox seems to be using around 2GB of ram and 40% of the CPU continuously even though it had been completely synced the last time the computer started. From what I can tell, Dropbox's sync algorithm is the problem. I added one small folder to selective sync and then Dropbox started "syncing" the entire Dropbox directory... Does Drpobox not have some sort of version control type sync? Does it really have to index the entire filestructure each time a selective sync is adjusted? If that's the case, Dropbox is not for me anymore. 

[Lusil]

Hello @palmerpark, 

I'd be more than happy to help look into this with you. 

If your computer is experiencing high CPU when the desktop app is running, could you check out this article which lists some suggestions on how to tackle it? Maybe one of them will do the trick. 

Let me know how it goes!

[Jeff D.22]

So this is still unresolved without a solution from Dropbox other than to blame Microsoft?

[Anson010]

I had the same porblem with Word and it went away when I delete dropbox.