Why do I need a license to edit Word and Excel files now?

[EllKay]

So this just happened today. I can't create new Word or Excel files, nor can I edit existing ones. There is now a paywall that says I need a commercial Office 365 version.

Um what?

Working for an org that has a number of remote colleagues, we rely on being able to share and collaborate on our in-progress work. Having to pay for an essential embedded program on top of a subscription, without any warning, is not cool. 

[SBrooks]

I tried to sign up dor Google.doc and it wanted me to buy a domain.

[mavbj]

I am having the same problem on a client's business account. Editing docs in dropbox online for months and now just stopped with no warning. I have a Office Home and Business product licence but it seems this is not good enough. This looks like Microsoft trying to push you on to their more expensive 365 platform and bad customer service from Dropbox as there as they don't tell you this is the case.

[SBrooks]

Not sure why it just started happening a few days ago.  I have another Dropbox account that I have no problem getting into without Microsoft Business.

[Fiona]

Hey there @acoolaccounts. Have a nice week!

Any updates on the matter? Does the issue persist? 

If it does let me know and I will send you an email to escalate the issue to specialists of my team for investigation. 

Thanks in advance! 

[KF6]

I'm still having issues.  I received a follow-up email, but have not yet received a response to my reply.  

[Fiona]

@KF6 Thank you for getting back to us about this. 

I see my colleague is handling your case. I added a note you contacted us again.  Rest assured she will respond as soon as possible. 

We greatly appreciate your patience. Thank you!

[KF6]

Thank you Fiona.  I still haven't heard back - I am sorry for being inpatient.  I just need to have access to this document before the end of the day

[Researcher12345]

As of last week, whenever myself or anyone else in our dropbox group attempt to use Microsoft Office Online it gives a message of 

"You don't have an Office license

Your Office 365 account does not have an Office license assigned to it"

Up until last week we did not have this problem. We never had bought an office license to use this. Is this a change in dropbox policy? What do I need to do to get these functional again?

[Celeste]

Hi @Researcher12345, thanks for checking in about this!

As a member of a Dropbox Business team, you will need a paid subscription of Office 365 to access such documents online via the Dropbox platform. 

One way around this is to contact your team admin to ensure they have the necessary license for the Business team. 

Alternatively, if you have a separate, personal, Dropbox account, you can copy the documents in question accross and edit them from the personal account to then re-upload to the Business one. 

Let me know if I can help with anything else!

[Researcher12345]

@Celeste2 What is the necessary license for the business team?