Android app defaults apps to preview files

[Nick-B]

I've noticed that the Android App (Android 12) appears to ignore the default app configured in it and always opens text files and images in Dropbox and not my preferred app, I've tried removing/resetting the apps via the "default apps" option in the app. Other Android apps, eg: file managers, Total Commander, etc pick up the correct app for viewing the file.
Has anyone else noticed this/have the same issue?

[Jay]

Hi @Sniposaurus, does your Android device no give the option to make that app as the default, instead of the Dropbox mobile app? Could you attach a screenshot showing this prompt?

[brett t.]

I used to use Dropbox Android i'd guess at least a 100 times a day.
I'd use it for photoshop files ,music files, FTP files, Password file manager's, PowerPoint files, spreadsheet files, pdf files.

Then you had to go in and set everything to offline order to get something to sync. So I started using third party utilities to Force Dropbox to sync Files instead of just linking files. And that worked for a while.

Now apparently there's no way to turn off this preview that breaks 100% of the functionality!

So I'm left to wonder what's the deal ...what's the point of android Dropbox?

Seriously, can someone from Dropbox Corporate or PRcome in here and explain the rationale for the current state of the broken… 100% useless Android Dropbox?

[Jay]

Hi @brett t., thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could you clarify exactly what you're referring to regarding the previews, and how it's affecting the workflow with these third party apps?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful.

[Sniposaurus]

When you install the Dropbox app and open a txt file for the first time, it will ask you which app you would like to make the default (screenshot 1).  I selected that txt files should "Always" be opened with "Jota+".  It then displays a popup message that says, "You've set a default app.  To change your default apps, go to Settings within the Dropbox app" (screenshot 2).  I then tap on one of my txt files, and it opens it in the Dropbox mobile viewer instead of Jota+ (screenshot 3).  I then view the Dropbox settings and it does show that Jota+ is the default app for opening txt files (screenshot 4).  This is clearly a bug, and this bug was not there in previous versions of Dropbox.  The only workaround I have found is that for each txt file that I want to open, I select the menu and scroll down to "Open with...", and that will open the file in Jota+ (screenshot 5).  Surprisingly, the txt file will open immediately in Jota+, without giving the user the opportunity to select which app they'd like to open the file with.  This is a bug too, as that is not how the "Open with..." option usually works.  I'd really appreciate it if you could put in a request to have these bugs fixed as soon as possible.  Thanks!

Screenshot 1Screenshot 2Screenshot 3Screenshot 4Screenshot 5Screenshot 6

[Jay]

Are you referring to the first tap you make on a file, which will preview it in the Dropbox mobile app in step 3?

If so, any file will preview first in the mobile app, and then if you choose to edit it, you use the 'Open with' prompt to open it in your desired app, which should now be defaulted to Jota+.

[Nick-B]

The first tap should only use the previewer if there is no default app configured. The "open with" option to always be available for the occasions when you want to use a different app and should always display a list of appropriate apps, eg: those that can edit a text file.

At the moment I have .kdb files associated with the KeePass app but DropBox tries to open them in the previewer and says that it cannot. It should not even attempt to use the previewer if a default app has been defined.

[Jay]

So, just for clarification,  you're saying that the first tap always showed files in another app, if specified, and this changed recently?

Did this apply to every single file type in your Dropbox account?

[Nick-B]

No, the first tap always uses the previewer, the default app is always ignored and only used by the "open with" option which does not show a list of suggested apps if a "default" has been defined, this did not used to be the case.

The issue is essentially that the "default app" configuration is incorrectly interpreted and this has been the case since before I posted the original query (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/View-download-and-export/Android-app-defaults-apps-to-preview-files/...) back in May.

In summary:

first tap, with default configured - Opens in DropBox Previewer, but it should Open in configured default app
open with, with default configured - Opens in configured default app, but it should open a list of suggested apps to pick from

first tap, with no default configured - Opens in DropBox Previewer as expected
open with, with no default configured - Opens list of suggested apps to pick from as expected

[Jay]

Okay, so what you're saying it that in your experience the app never opened a file in another app when you first tapped the file, and you believed that setting a default app would allow you to do so, is that correct?

[Nick-B]

Not quite, it used to work as I described in the "but it should..." part of my last message, however after an update in May or slightly earlier, this stopped being the case and now the app ignores any default app choices.