Loss of touchscreen function after downloading a file on my Microsoft Surface 3

I am using a Microsoft Surface Model 3 that has a touchscreen, a keyboard with a touchpad, and a USB connection for a mouse.  Our group of seniors has a set of documents in Dropbox that can be accessed individually by touching the title in a list where all are hyperlinked.  Each document also has a button to return to the list.  This works fine when I am in Dropbox, but if I download the list and attached documents, the touch screen function is lost; I cannot use touch to go to or return from a document.  If I use the touchpad or the mouse to move the cursor on the screen to click on a document, it works perfectly, but I cannot use the touchscreen.  I can use the touchscreen to scroll through all of the documents, so touchscreen function is not completely lost.  I is like all of the hyperlinks have been deactivated if using the touchscreen.  The other members of the group do not have the same problem when they download the list and documents.  (I think that everyone else uses an Apple iPad of some type.)  This is handy when using the documents where Wi-Fi is not available.  All ideas appreciated.  Thank you.  gary_k.