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"Sorry we couldn't find File ABC" upon cut/paste to different folder

"Sorry we couldn't find File ABC" upon cut/paste to different folder

Julie E.1
New member | Level 1
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I use Dropbox desktop and this appears to sync fine.  However I am encountering an issue when I move a file.

For example, if I move a file into a different folder, and then try to re-open the file, I commonly get an error message "Sorry, we couldn't find FILE ABC.  Is it possible it was moved, renamed or deleted?"  

Yes I have moved the file but it won't open.  However if I copy/paste the document back into its original location, the document opens fine.  Likewise, if I open dropbox.com, the file is stored in its new location and opens fine.

Please advise.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

The issue you're experiencing may be due to a limitation of the applications that you're using to open or save the files in question @OferL - this is something compeletely out of our control. In short, there are files that your applications can't process correctly because they have file paths that are too long. 

This behavior is present if there are more than 255 characters in the entire file path. This means from the C:\ all the way to the extension of a file.

As an example if you had a test.txt file in your Dropbox that had the following path:

 C:\Users\OferL\My Documents\Dropbox\test.txt

This file would have a path that is 47 characters long while if you moved the same file to your desktop directly as you mentioned you'd be immediately reducing its filepath to fewer characters as it would result to something like: 

C:\Users\OferL\test.txt

Based on your example now, when you move this copy to your desktop as you said, you're immediately reducing the number of characters on the filepath and this is why you're able to open it without issues.  

Keep in mind that our desktop application can read and write to locations that are longer than 255 characters, which means that files will sync to and from those locations, however, the applications used to open or save said files (e.g. Word, Notepad, Excel, Etc.) might not support reading from or writing to these locations with long file paths and may show error messages when trying to open, save or edit them. This is out of our control since the application developers would have to add support for long paths to resolve the issue.

You should be able to resolve the issues with your applications processing these files by simply renaming the file to a shorter name, renaming a folder to a shorter name, or reducing the number of sub-folders.

I hope this clarify matters to you and please let me know if there's anything else I can help with.


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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View solution in original post

15 Replies 15

Richard P.
Super User alumni
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I'm afraid thats an issue with your local operating system and not Dropbox, as Dropbox doesn't handle opening of local files, or moving/copying them.

Are you per chance opening an Excel or Word file?

Julie E.1
New member | Level 1
Go to solution

It's very strange as the issue has only recently started happening and doesn't happen on every file so the behavior is inconsistent.  

Excel are the only file types affected so far.  Do you have any suggestions?  My machine is Win 8 and Office 2013...  Would uninstalling and re-installing the Dropbox client do any good?

Richard P.
Super User alumni
Go to solution

Its likely to be an Excel issue, as googling "excel couldnt find file" shows several potential issues that throw that error message. Its quite common if you have linked documents or code in an Excel file and you move one of the files from its expected location.

Scott N.1
New member | Level 1
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I have the same annoying issue. Any further thoughts and solutions here guys?

Josh D.1
New member | Level 1
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Hi everyone, I also have the same problem and it's very annoying. Anyone found a solution?

 

Thanks!

Nelson C.
New member | Level 2
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This is incredibly annoying.

 

Try shortening the folder name as well as the file names. Works for me. but still annoying.

rmq67
New member | Level 2
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@Richard P. wrote:

Its likely to be an Excel issue, as googling "excel couldnt find file" shows several potential issues that throw that error message. Its quite common if you have linked documents or code in an Excel file and you move one of the files from its expected location.


Yes thanks but neither of your responses are any use whatsoever - can you please get someone on the case that knows what they're doing! 

 

"It's quite common" -I've never experienced it and it only happens with Dropbox, it doesn't happen on OneDrive or Explorer any other file sharing application!

 

There are multiple people that are very frustrated by the issue so please investigate and work out what is wrong with your application. I'm paying an annual fee fr a service and this goes a long way short of my expectations!

 

 

XxKiuxX
New member | Level 2
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I tried to solve this case on Excel 2013, and you may try with below method;

 

Data>Edit Links>Break Link / Chang Source

And there have "Startup Prompt" to display or Don't display with update or don't update automatic links also.

 

 

 

 

rmq67
New member | Level 2
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The Edit Links option is greyed out so I can't use this solution.

 

I don't believe it's an issue with excel settings.

 

Please find an expert to resolve this problem with Dropbox!!

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