You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Colene
4 months agoExplorer | Level 3
The user I'm sharing a folder with can't open PDFs on their end.
Hi team,
Recently I joined a shared folder on dropbox, I use a mac and the original user has windows. Once I move folders and documents (as I do the filing), somehow the windows user can no longer ...
Nancy
Dropbox Staff
Welcome aboard the Community, @Colene!
When saying this happens upon moving files/folders, can you clarify what you mean? For example, are you moving/uploading new files/folders within the shared folder and the other user is unable to open them?
Are they getting any errors on their end?
Are they unable to open them on the Dropbox website or the desktop app? You’re able to access everything properly, correct?
Let me know more info and we can take a look.
Colene
4 months agoExplorer | Level 3
Thanks Nancy,
So I work on dropbox offline, and the other person as well. I work on mac and they on Windows. What I think is happening, is that when I make changes - ie, they pop 3 pdf's into folder A, and I go and sub-file them into specific folders ie Folder 1, Folder 2 and Folder 3, so I'm just moving them around within the dropbox, not making changes to the actual pdf or editing. Once I've moved it from folder A to folder B/1/2/3 etc, the other user can no longer open it without an error message popping up or just letting me know that it doesn't open at all on their end.
So someone advised that I only work on dropbox from my end online, so that the changes are instant and I don't have to download/upload sync from my offline version and then the other user just needs to sync their offline version. Does that make sense?
Otherwise I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong when I'm using the dropbox offline.
- Rich4 months agoSuper User II
Colene wrote:
Once I've moved it from folder A to folder B/1/2/3 etc, the other user can no longer open it without an error message popping up ...
What is the exact error that they're getting? Are you changing the file name at all? Does the file still have the .pdf file extension?
So someone advised that I only work on dropbox from my end online ... Does that make sense?No, that doesn't make sense. It shouldn't matter where you're working on the files, as long as syncing is working normally for you.
- Colene4 months agoExplorer | Level 3
What is the exact error that they're getting? Are you changing the file name at all? Does the file still have the .pdf file extension?
- Not sure about the error, but I suspect it might be something like this:
"Adobe Acrobat Reader could not open the file because it is either not a supported file type or the because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded."
- I'm not making any changes, just moving from one folder to another
- Yes, they still have the .pdf file extension
- Jay4 months agoDropbox Staff
Hi @Colene, is it possible that they're trying to open the PDF files from within their PDF program, as in, opening their recent files?
If so, this could mean that the program is trying to find the PDF in the old location, and can't find it, bringing up the error. Are they able to navigate to that folder you moved it to and open the PDF from there directly?
- Colene4 months agoExplorer | Level 3
"is it possible that they're trying to open the PDF files from within their PDF program, as in, opening their recent files?"
- Not sure about that as we work remotely so I'm not able to view the path they're taking currently
If so, this could mean that the program is trying to find the PDF in the old location, and can't find it, bringing up the error. Are they able to navigate to that folder you moved it to and open the PDF from there directly?
- So they can navigate to the folders, including the ones I've created and moved the pdf's to. So I'm not sure why they're not able to open the pdf's once I've moved it from folder A to folder B.
- Jay4 months agoDropbox Staff
This is what I wanted to check, if they are actually trying to open the files from the new locations directly in Explorer, or if they're using their PDF program to reopen the previous file, without navigating to it directly.
If the file still doesn't open from Explorer, then we can look into other possibilities
About View, download, and export
Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.
Need more support
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!