cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

View, download, and export

Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

"The file has been changed by another application."

"The file has been changed by another application."

David W.136
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

Over the past couple of weeks, both of my Macs have been telling me that files cannot be autosaved because "The file has been changed by another application." 

 

  • This occurs in multiple applications, including Keynote, Preview, Multimarkdown Composer, and more. 
  • The error message says that it has failed when trying to autosave
  • It lets me revert or "save anyway." The latter seems to work properly, although because this is supposed to be an autosave, I can get the popup every few minutes.
  • I am running MacOS 10.13.4
  • It seems not to happen when I pause Dropbox syncing
  • I am getting the same problem on two Mac laptops
  • I have rebooted
  • I have looked in the logs to see if in fact some other app is altering my files, but I don't see anything suspicious there. OTOH, I'm no expert.
  • I have looked in Activity Monitor for suspicious processes but don't see any obvious suspects.
  • Malwarebytes doesn't find any viruses on either machine

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Norah
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
 
Hi David W.136, thanks for checking in with us!
 
To help isolate this issue, try quitting the Dropbox app by using the following steps:
 
  • Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac/Linux)
  • Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select "Quit Dropbox"
 
If the issue persists when Dropbox is completely closed, this suggests that the cause is related to something outside of the Dropbox application. You may want to check other applications or components of your Operating System that could be causing this.
 
Let me know if the issue is resolved when Dropbox is completely closed!



Norah
Moderator @ Dropbox
https://dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so please mark it for some Kudos below. 
:white_check_mark: Did this post fix your issue/answer your question? If so please press the 'Accept as Solution' button to help others find it.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question! (
Questions asked in the community will likely receive an answer within 4 hours!)

View solution in original post

David W.136
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

As I'd mentioned, the error stopped when I paused Dropbox syncing. But over the past couple of days, I've turned syncing back on, and I am not getting the error.

 

So, it seems not to be related to Dropbox...especially since it seems from this board that no one else is having the same issue.

 

Thanks for the reply.  If the problem starts up again, I'll quit Dropbox and see if that makes a difference.  

View solution in original post

5 Replies 5

Norah
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
 
Hi David W.136, thanks for checking in with us!
 
To help isolate this issue, try quitting the Dropbox app by using the following steps:
 
  • Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (Mac/Linux)
  • Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select "Quit Dropbox"
 
If the issue persists when Dropbox is completely closed, this suggests that the cause is related to something outside of the Dropbox application. You may want to check other applications or components of your Operating System that could be causing this.
 
Let me know if the issue is resolved when Dropbox is completely closed!



Norah
Moderator @ Dropbox
https://dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so please mark it for some Kudos below. 
:white_check_mark: Did this post fix your issue/answer your question? If so please press the 'Accept as Solution' button to help others find it.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question! (
Questions asked in the community will likely receive an answer within 4 hours!)

David W.136
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

As I'd mentioned, the error stopped when I paused Dropbox syncing. But over the past couple of days, I've turned syncing back on, and I am not getting the error.

 

So, it seems not to be related to Dropbox...especially since it seems from this board that no one else is having the same issue.

 

Thanks for the reply.  If the problem starts up again, I'll quit Dropbox and see if that makes a difference.  

Norah
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
 
 
I’m glad the issue has been resolved! Feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions.
 
Have a great week ahead!



Norah
Moderator @ Dropbox
https://dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so please mark it for some Kudos below. 
:white_check_mark: Did this post fix your issue/answer your question? If so please press the 'Accept as Solution' button to help others find it.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question! (
Questions asked in the community will likely receive an answer within 4 hours!)

jessekinsman
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

I am having the exact same issue on OS X Catalina 10.15.3. Only really happens in Numbers for me. Does not happen if Dropbox is not paused.

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi @jessekinsman, thanks for joining the Community!

 

Have you tried disabling autosave to see if this helps? Does this occur for Numbers files located outside of the Dropbox folder?

 

Lastly, could you clarify if you meant that this doesn’t occur if the Dropbox desktop application is paused from syncing.

 

Keep me posted!


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!

Need more support?
Who's talking

Top contributors to this post

  • User avatar
    Jay Dropbox Staff
  • User avatar
    jessekinsman New member | Level 2
  • User avatar
    Norah Dropbox Staff
  • User avatar
    David W.136 Helpful | Level 6
What do Dropbox user levels mean?