Apps and Installations
Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.
Welcome to the Community, @Mike P.58! I hope you’re doing well.
First of all, I’d like to thank you for your feedback on this; I’ve also passed it to our team, so that they can see your comments.
Besides that, a workaround that I believe could work for you is enabling Dropbox as a location in your Files app, and then opening your PDFs from there directly. This should allow you to use the markup features from iOS and the changes should save back to your Dropbox account.
Hope this helps!
Nancy
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Thanks! I've tried loading a PDF from Dropbox using iOS's Files App. I get a roadblock notification to the effect of, "Cannot Open This File". While it opens ok in Preview App on Mac OS.
Hey @Mike P.58, what steps do you follow, in order to load the file?
Did you export it from Dropbox, locally to the device? If you have any screenshots of the error, feel free to send them our way too.
Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
@Megan no. This is the error dialogue received when attempting access a PDF file from Dropbox while in the Files App or a iOS third-party app (in this instance Highlights App) on my iPad running iOS 16.
What I have to end up doing is moving the file out of Dropbox into iCloud Drive. At that point the PDF file can be successfully opened in iOS Files App or any third party iOS-running app, such as Highlights.
I'm at a point with my high volume university edu reading that I may have to abandon using Dropbox for iCloud Drive. 😞
If there's a software update to Dropbox for iOS (iPad) coming soon where PDFs can be successfully opened in iOS apps (think Highlights App) and Files App, let me know!
Here's a screen grab of the dialogue I get when attempting to open a PDF hosted on Dropbox. This is from Highlights App. Also get the same dialogue when accessing from iCloud Drive: link removed
Hey @Mike P.58, I've removed your link in order to avoid high traffic, since we're on a public forum.
Can you try to attach it back here, using the little camera-like icon when you try to respond?
Megan
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Hi @Megan here it is! 🙂
Hey @Mike P.58, can you let us know which version of the Dropbox app you're using?
I just tested this on my end and did not run into any issues. Does this only happen with the 3rd party app you're using or directly from the Files app too?
Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Dropbox app version: 334.2.2.
Running iOS 16.5..1 on an iPad Pro.
I'm experiencing this roadblock through third party apps accessing from Dropbox (I cited Highlights App as one of them), and the native iOS Files App.
Thanks
Hi again, @Mike P.58!
Do you mind if we open a ticket for you, at this point, so that we can look into your Dropbox account?
Nancy
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join!
Hi there!
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for a 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!