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insertnamehere's avatar
insertnamehere
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

What is this UFO icon on some of Dropbox files online?

There is a UFO symbol next to one of my uploaded files, does anyone know what that means?

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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    Hi there, the UFO generally means it’s a file without an extension at the end, so Dropbox doesn’t know what filetype it is, such as ‘test’ instead of test.jpg, test.docx, test.pdf, and so on.
     
    If it’s supposed to have a filetype, rename the file with the extension and it should show a proper icon instead.
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hi there, the UFO generally means it’s a file without an extension at the end, so Dropbox doesn’t know what filetype it is, such as ‘test’ instead of test.jpg, test.docx, test.pdf, and so on.
     
    If it’s supposed to have a filetype, rename the file with the extension and it should show a proper icon instead.
    • Chelles803's avatar
      Chelles803
      New member | Level 2
      5 years ago

      Is there a way to open a saved file in my Dropbox with the flying saucer as the icon?  I really need to figure out what these documents are.

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        5 years ago

        Hi Chelles803, thanks for joining the Community!

        It depends on what type of file it was originally. If you know the general type of doc, then you can guess at the file type.

        The safest bets for me would be mp3 for music files, mp4 for videos, jpg for images, docx for documents, xlsx for spreadsheets, and so on. I could list out all the file types, but it would take too long!

        If you know who sent you the files, try asking them to see if they know what they were. Alternatively, if you renamed the file yourself, try looking at the version history of the file to see if the renaming is visible there.

        Hope this helps!

    • Trey2's avatar
      Trey2
      Explorer | Level 3
      5 years ago
      My file is mp3 but it still wont upload what do I do now?
      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        5 years ago

        Hi Trey2, thanks for posting today!

         

        Are you trying to upload files from the desktop app, mobile app, or the Dropbox site directly?

         

        Keep me posted!

  • Jeffg2's avatar
    Jeffg2
    Explorer | Level 3
    5 years ago

    I have the flying saucer on alot of files with extensitons. Some of them was when I switched from paperport to File Center. I believe I can just delete them. How do you delete multiple files at once instead of 1 at a time. 

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      5 years ago

      Hi Jeffg2, while I’m not familiar with the file types used by Paperport or File Center, these files could be important to the functioning of File Center, so I’d recommend making a copy of them just in case.

      On the site, you can click the checkboxes for multiple files on the left of them, and then on the right, click the delete button from the ellipsis (…) button.

      Hope this helps out!

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