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“Can't open the file because the file format/extension is not valid.” error on website/desktop app.
Hi, I’m having a serious issue with Dropbox where many of my files appear in the correct folders on both my computer and on Dropbox.com, but none of those specific files will open. I receive errors like: “Cannot open the file because the file format or file extension is not valid.” Here’s what’s happening: I can see the file names and folder structure in Explorer. I can also see the same file names on Dropbox.com. But when I try to open any of these files (locally or on the web), they fail with format/extension errors. The files appear to be zero‑byte placeholders rather than real files. Most of my other files still exist on my second laptop, but the ones I urgently need do not. These missing files appear in Dropbox, but none of them open anywhere. This all started after repeated issues with the Dropbox sync engine failing to start. Dropbox would install, but the app never launched, no tray icon appeared, and the sync engine seemed to be stuck in a crash loop. I believe this may have caused Dropbox to replace some of my original files with empty placeholder versions. I need help determining: Whether Dropbox has older historical versions of these files stored internally. Whether a data recovery review is possible for these zero‑byte or corrupted placeholder files. Whether Dropbox can confirm if these files ever successfully uploaded before the sync engine failed. These files are extremely important to me, and I’m hoping Dropbox Support can check server‑side logs or historical versions to see if recovery is possible. Thank you for any help or escalation you can provide.
"Video not available or not supported for this browser" error on Safari
Hi, I have uploaded several videos to a Dropbox folder, but when I try to view on a computer (Mac, Safari (v.26) Mac OS - Tahoe 26 -- recently updated), I get the image below with a "spinning" box. Never had this problem before, and I can download the video back to the computer and it plays fine. I can also view the videos on an iPhone no problem. Btw, seems to work ok on Chrome. Seems that the Safari browser is not compatible? Thanks!
View HTML in Safari rather than the Dropbox mobile app on iOS?
Is there some easy way I am missing of viewing an HTML file from the iOS Dropbox app in Safari rather than in the in-app viewer? I have only been able to make this happen by a convoluted process involving sending files to My Files first.MP4 and .MOV files stored on Dropbox have lost audio
Question or Issue I had 12 video files - a mix of MP4 and .MOV stored which were all working. I even made back up copies and put in additional file to share with a colleague. 4 of those files (mix of MP4/.MOV) have lost audio. I see that others on this forum have raised this. I have checked all my settings - the other files play fine, it is just these files. When I pull them into Da Vinci I can see there is a audio but it won't play - the other files will. I've tried all forms of players. The only thing that happened recently was i was going to set up a Dropbox Teams account and share the whole folder with that new account. I changed my mind and unshared - but this applied to all 12 files so I don't understand why 4 would be affected and the others fine. Luckily we had downloaded these files to work on them. I tried looking under version history but there was no other version. However I rely on Dropbox to do all my work and we are doing a lot of video work. I need to trust that files will not be corrupted on the system. It doesn't make sense as they are two different formats, and whilst I have viewed a couple in Da Vinci I have not done any other work with them. The only thing they have in common is that they are stored in the same sub-folder. I would be grateful for advice on how to ensure this does not happen again. Many thanks Sheena"Something went wrong" error when trying to preview files on the website
Device Normal Desktop comptuer) Operating System/Browser (if using the web) (Windows 10 home Question or Issue When I load into the page, I can briefly see my dropbox files for like 3.46 second before it load this error up: Something went wrong An unexpected error occurred, but don’t worry—your files are safe, and our team has been notified. I trying clearing cache, using different browser, disable all extension, re-install chrome all of it doesn't work. Contacted support but they have no options to do email or live chat even though I am on DROPBOX Plus and it is within 9am to 5pm. So I am sort of stuck
I need to recover an old link that no longer works - how can I do that?
I want to recover a older link but when i open the link says: “This link doesn't work any more” Is very important to enter to that link because it has the recipes of my granfather that is no longer with us. Please help me Question or Issue Urgent: I want to recover a older link but when i open the link says: “This link doesn't work any more” Is very important to enter to that link because it has the recipes of my granfather that is no longer with us. Please help me
I'm seeing 2 different date formats after opening file info on my Dropbox account online.
Device PC Operating System/Browser (if using the web) Windows 11 Dropbox App Version (if using the app) Browser Edge Version 143.0.3650.96 (Official build) (64-bit) Question or Issue Hi, in the web browser version of dropbox, when choosing file info, the date are shown in 2 differents formats, that is very confusing to understand when looking at dates like 11/5/2025 and 5/11/2025 for example, which one is month? Modified : day/month/year date upload: month/day/year date created: month/day/year here is a screenshot when you can see
