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Forum Discussion
Error message: Cannot open this file. Access denied.
I cannot open files within one of my folders on my desktop app. I get the error message "There was an error opening this file. Access denied." I am able to open the files in this folder on the web or on my home laptop, but not at my work PC. My boss is also having the same issue. I checked the number of pathways thinking that might be it, but if I go to another folder with the same amount of pathways, I don't have any issues.
Hi everyone. It turns out that the file path was way too long. We shortened a bunch of the folder names and that seemed to work! Thanks for all the help.
- Chris_J
Super User
Hello Jamie
Thanks for reaching out to the Community. I would say, you have a permissions issue. Please see these solutions in this Help Center Article
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall
let us know if this fixes it.
Hi Chris, I have checked and it says I have full permissions. I discovered I am actually able to open the excel files in that folder but not the PDF files. As I said, my boss is having the same issue. Oddly enough, we don't experience this issue at our home laptops.
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey JamieCarr0520, is this error message coming from Dropbox or from your computer's OS?
Can you please send us a screenshot, so we can have a visual too?
Thanks!
FYI, I can go onto a browser, open the documents no problem, and even download the document to my laptop and open it. I can even copy the document from that folder, move it to a different folder, and open it. The issue is only occurring when I try to open that specific document from that folder.
- Chris_J
Thanks for elaborating here on your problem. Question: you stated that you have full permissions, how do you know? did you do what the article that I've linked suggested?
it says specific procedures to cure permissions issues. I don't know if you are using Windows or Mac but it certainly helps
Hi everyone. It turns out that the file path was way too long. We shortened a bunch of the folder names and that seemed to work! Thanks for all the help.
- Chris_J
Thanks for letting us know. this will help someone in the future if they have the same issue
Happy Dropboxing
