File will Only Open in Excel Online

[Bowmanh23]

Hi! I work from home and share an excel file with other employees. We all make edits to the file and save it so others can see. Typically when I open files, I choose to open them on my desktop and not online. However, this file does not give me the option to open it on my desktop. When I click open, it immediately tries to open it through Excel Online. However, the file is too big, so Excel Online can't open it. So now I can't open the file at all. Please help me with this. Thanks! 

[Walter]

Hey there @Bowmanh23 - how large is the file in question and what type exactly?

Have you tried other browsers to eliminate browser specific issues?  Can you download and open it on your computer locally? 

Also note that in order for you to achieve that you'd need to be running the desktop app. To do this, please take a look at the Dropbox icon in your taskbar (Windows) or menu bar (Mac) and see if it is done syncing. When Dropbox is fully synced then you should see a tick followed by the words “Up to date” on the menu. 

If you do not see this then can you please let me know what the message being displayed reads?

[Bowmanh23]

Well, I logged out and logged back in and it suddenly worked. Not sure why.  However, I am new to Dropbox and want to make sure I understand it thoroughly, so I answered the questions below. I think there are still a few tweaks I need to make. 

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The file is 6.67 MB. I have used Safari and Chrome. 

I can download it locally, but it doesn't save to the online version. It just saves to my Mac. I am new to Dropbox and not sure how to save the downloaded version where it will also save to the shared version online. If I download the file and then save it, won't I have to download a different file every week? I don't want to do that if I don't have to. 

As far as what is showing on my menu bar, drop box isn't showing up. When I double click it in the Launchpad, it doesn't open. In my finder bar, however, the folders in the drop box file have green checks by them. 

[Walter · Accepted solution]

You will have to work on this file from within your Dropbox Folder @Bowmanh23 (meaning that you'll need to have the desktop app running and this file located within your Dropbox folder's structure) - or else the changes you make won't sync back to our servers and therefore to other linked (to your account) computers or even on the machines of other collaborators. 

Let me know if this helped please.

[Bowmanh23]

This helped, thanks! My drop box is synced. Thank you!