Txt files now open in preview mode instead of the Dropbox Text Editor directly

[Roadster1024]

My files are created as plain .txt files. In the past they would open directly with the Dropbox Text Editor as I had selected the Dropbox Text Editor as the default in the phone app.

Now the files only show preview mode! Now must select the EDIT icon to edit them – using the Dropbox Text Editor.

This occurred after my app updated to version 322.2.2. I have one device with version 320.2 – it still works as it should.  

Having Preview Mode open files 1st is a PITA! Might be ok for people that rarely edit the files. But I edit them dozens of a day – major annoyance!

Dropbox preview mode - bug made out to be a “Feature”. Fix it!!

Don’t need or want the bloatware nor the added “Features” that make an app more cumbersome to use.  Not to mention resource hogs. Yes, I've noticed Dropbox taking more resources with every "update" How many apps & software that have tired this before and are now extinct?

I now must find an alternative to Dropbox, then drop my subscription. Wow thanks - not.

[Roadster1024]

I think we all knew it was intended. We are saying it is infuriating!

If the "Default" for a .txt file was set to open in the Dropbox text editor, then it SHOULD open directly in the editor. 

If not a .txt file then yes, there would be other parameters.

Although once a "default" was set for a certain file type - like .pdf, .jpg, etc, - then it should open directly in that Default editor. 

No reason this cannot be done. Not rocket science.

[rhut]

Hi all,

I'm a product manager at Dropbox working on the mobile Previews experience.  First off, sorry for the inconvenience that we've caused you re: your workflow.  The original intent behind this change was to solve a complaint that users had around wanting to perform more Dropbox-related file actions like sharing - so defaulting to preview was intentional.

However, it seems like we introduced 2 new issues here:

1. We now default you to the Dropbox editor, and when you're in the Dropbox editor, there also a number of issues where pressing the edit button scrolls you back up to the top of the file, the font size is a bit different, etc.

2. We don't respect the default text editor that you use, so you have to click the 3 dots > Open with > the default editor everytime you want to edit a text file.

One solution we're thinking about is to still drop users into preview mode when opening a .txt file (to aid many users who do want to perform actions in Dropbox), but pressing the edit button would drop you into your default text editor.  Would like to hear more feedback from you on this change before we make it.

Thank you for your input in making Dropbox better!

[mwallred]

My wish list would be to have a setting that says whether or not to open files in preview mode or not. Problem solved for everyone! I really wouldn't care if it went back to the top if I switched to edit mode, because I would have my default be edit mode so I'd never have to switch.

I only care about using a different text editor because there are these issues with yours. If you fixed yours I also wouldn't care if I could use a different one.

I will say that the text editor issues are enough of a pain point for me that I'm looking at my options for switching away from Dropbox altogether.

[Roadster1024]

Thank You for checking into this.

These issues are still driving me nuts multiple times daily.

Will be anxiously awaiting a fix.

[rhut]

@mwallred @Roadster1024 Appreciate the prompt reply.

In terms of the fastest & easiest thing we can do to get you up and running:

  1) Allow you to choose your default text editor, so at least it's only 1 click vs. 3 clicks to edit a file in a tool that gives you the functionality you need

  2) Add an "edit by default"  which will requires us coming up with a design/flow.

  3) Fix pain points around the Dropbox text editor, which we need to spend more time technically to ramp up and understand.

I'll investigate options 2/3 with the engineering team.

[LongTimer]

I spent over an hour trying to figure out if I had just imagined that the functionality had changed, and diving around my phone/app settings to try and figure out what I might have accidentally broken. After I felt like I had explored every option I eventually looked online and found this thread. At least I know I'm not losing my mind, but that was a really infuriating process. Please give us the option to edit by default. The font size change when changing to edit mode, the "losing the place you wanted to edit" and the extra steps necessary to get there are all not deal breakers but certainly very annoying, not to mention the time I lost trying to figure out what was wrong.

[rhut]

Thank you for your patience.  Just wanted to give an update on where things are:

In the upcoming release this week (v346), we made a few small tweaks to make the Dropbox text editor a little less painful to use (modifying the font size and scroll position to get close to where the page you were looking at).  Though any additional improvements will require significantly more work.  In the release after that, for users that prefer another editor, we'll add an edit button (for Dropbox text editor) and "Open with" button and that should allow you to select another editor, with 1-click. 

We recognize that this doesn't solve the problem that you'd like to open the editor by default, but these changes should ideally make things a bit less painful, while we try to make additional improvements that will take a bit longer to resolve.

Thanks! Let me know if you have questions.

[Slangword]

I have same problem with using my preferred option to open and view cbr and cbz files.  Those are zipped image files commonly used to store comic book images.  Until today, I could open them with my preferred viewer with one click.  Now it takes going to sub-menu.  This stinks, and has greatly decreased the usefulness of the service.

[bonacello]

Same here. Desperatly waiting for a fix! Anoying change. Please program a option to choose where one wants a preview or directly opend in edit mode. Thank you!

[garringt]

This issue is NOT just for .txt files.  I have an app on my tablet (A La Mode) that displays .abc music files.  In Dropbox, I have the default app for this kind of file set to A La Mode.  Previously, I could just tap an .abc file in Dropbox and it would automatically open the A La Mode app on my tablet.  Now, Dropbox tries to preview the file, which it can't do.  I now have to tap the 3 dots to the right of the file and select "Open With".  What's the point of having the ability to set a default app in Dropbox if you still have to select "open with"?