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Forum Discussion
Why do I need a license to edit Word and Excel files now?
So this just happened today. I can't create new Word or Excel files, nor can I edit existing ones. There is now a paywall that says I need a commercial Office 365 version.
Um what?
Working for an...
My team and I cannot access our excel files using excel online. I am fairly certain our license has not expired but we all get the message:
Almost there...
To edit business documents you'll need a commercial Office 365 subscription.
I believe this is the same issue as in: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Files-folders/Can-t-open-Excel-online/td-p/317571
I was having this same problem for a while where I could not open Excel files online. The page would just be blank. It used to work perfectly.
It just started working again after I created a new excel spreadsheet from within the Dropbox browser interface (not editing an existing file). I was expecting to be asked to sign it, but it just created a new spreadsheet for me. I added some dummy data, and saved it to Dropbox.
Then I went back to one of my existing spreadsheets, and it opened normally with Excel online.
I suspect the licensing/authentication for the microsoft account through Dropbox got hung up, and creating a new file shook it loose.
- Iliana-DBX
Dropbox Staff
When viewing your license on the Office Portal, you want to make sure you see 'Office for the web' is listed under the appropriate business license name (Business, Business Premium, ProPlus, E3, E4, or E5).
If you do not see 'Office for the web', you will need to reach out to the administrator of the team's Microsoft account to get that app permission added.
Our employees are experiencing the same thing. We have a Dropbox Business Enterprise account, and many of our employees rely heavily on the ability to simultaneously work on the same file within Excel Online.
We have had this Dropbox account for quite some time, and this is the second time this issue has occurred. The first time I got a lot of mixed responses, but generally, the blame went to Microsoft when asking Dropbox reps.
I just read through the forum post where a Dropbox rep suggested "If you have a Dropbox Business account, you will need an enterprise Microsoft account with a license that allows editing in Office Online" but didn't technically solve the issue within the forum post, and instead moved to private messages. I'm curious what happened there?
An actual solution was not found last time and we had all but fully switched to using the Dropbox app despite our desire to remain online only when Microsoft Online suddenly started working again without the sign-in prompt. It has worked fine for ages, and then clearly something happened to many customers all at the same time.
I would love a quick fix for this, but in the meantime, I'll wish us all luck that it just starts working again.
- Daphne
Hey there alexcoote and MrRogers83,
To have a further look into this I've reached out to both of your email addresses, associated with your Community profiles, through our Support channel. This will allow us to discuss some account specifics as we can't do this here on the Community as it's a public forum.
When you have the chance, please just check your inbox and we can go from there.
Thanks!
I have the same problem, it just happen yesterday, i was using it for a year it juts now that it open a blank page or with the 365 subsciption
I have the same problem, at 2:00 I got into my excel docs, at 2:15 it told me I needed a Corporate or Educational acct. I did sign up for a trial but it still doesn't work. Other exel docs work from dropbox just those in one of my shared accounts. Very frustrating.
