InDesign will freeze if we try to open files that are online-only

[AL ARABY]

Please note that we have a Dropbox shared among multiple employees. Since yesterday, we've encountered the following issue:

Whenever we try to open any files, such as InDesign or Photoshop files, through Dropbox that have a cloud status, the application freezes. To work around this, we need to right-click on the file in Dropbox, select "Save Offline," and then open it in InDesign through Dropbox. This problem did not occur before. If we don't save the file offline first in Dropbox, InDesign will freeze until we quit Dropbox, reopen it, save the file offline, and then open it again through Dropbox to work on it.

For example, if we click on one of these items that has a transparent X to open files from Dropbox in InDesign, InDesign will freeze first like in img1:

img1

second  dropbox freeze also, for example if you right click on any dropbox file , no option to save the file offline or online .... like img2 :

img2

the only solution is first to quit the dropbox  then open it again when dropbox became like img3 :

img3

 then make the file you want to open through InDesign, Photoshop, or any other app available offline first. Then, you should be able to open it without any problems.

Another problem we're encountering is with opening files from Dropbox in InDesign. The first time we open a file, it displays correctly with icons like in img3. However, the second time we open a file, it appears like img1, with the dark green icon missing and the cloud icon becoming a transparent X. To restore the correct display (like img3), we have to quit Dropbox and reopen it.

Please address this issue as it affects multiple desktops and laptops used by six different users from various companies. Some of these users are on Windows 10, while others are on Windows 11. The problem started appearing yesterday.

[Hannah]

Hey @AL ARABY, thanks for reaching out to us.

Were you previously able to open online-only (cloud icon) files without making them available offline first?

If you now manually make all the files available offline first, before you open them through InDesign, does it help?

Keep me posted.

[aliwihbi]

Yes, if I manually make all the files available offline first before opening them through InDesign or any app, the issue is resolved, but the problem that InDesign stop freeze but Dropbox look like the attached video link , no option for sync online or offline or view online  , its look like no dropbox i should quit to make this show again every time . My concern is why I need to do this? it hard to do every time we have so much files . Previously, when I opened a folder in InDesign, even if the file in Dropbox had an online-only (cloud) status, it would download to my computer and open normally in InDesign. Now, this leads to InDesign freezing and Dropbox appearing like img2.

How to request for a remote session to check the issue

[Hannah]

Hey @AL ARABY, unfortunately, we can't access your computer remotely or access the video that you attached there.

Would it be possible to send us a series of screenshots showing the issue, instead?

[aliwihbi]

Dear Hannah,

Please be aware that we've been experiencing an issue similar to the screenshot (img 2) previously attached. The problem is that Dropbox appears not work(not show status or show online or show offline...), and we need to quit the application every time to make appears like img 3 . This is our main concern. Do you have another version that could resolve this issue, or can you escalate the issue?
you do any updates for Dropbox from yesterday?
Our version is 202.45551

We have a subscription for 132 TB for 8 years and have had an excellent experience with Dropbox. I'm confident you can assist us in resolving this issue, which has affected the entire team since yesterday. We require support to address this, so please escalate my problem. I'm contacting you as the IT representative for our company, not as a regular user.

Regards

[Hannah]

Hey @aliwihbi, thanks for the additional info.

In the second screenshot, no right-click options appear on your Dropbox files at all, which indicates that the app is running correctly.

Can you try simply reinstalling the Dropbox app (without uninstalling it), to see if that helps?

[brad94]

We are having the same problem with Dropbox, the issue started early yesterday. We have reinstalled dropbox and even deleted the dropbox folder and waited hours for all of the files to sync again, there is no option when we right click a file to keep the file offline. Downloading from the web interface is not an option as well as none of the linked assets in an InDesign file will remain linked as all of those files are also inaccessible in our dropbox.

[Hannah]

Hey @brad94, are you only missing the "make online-only"/"make available offline" right-click options, or all Dropbox right-click options?

[RSTirendi]

Dropbox, PLEASE rollback the latest update. Since we dont have the option to turnoff updates, it is incumbent on dropbox to roll it back until you have fixed the current version.

[aliwihbi]

First, you didn't answer my question: Did Dropbox perform any updates two days ago?

Second, how can you say Dropbox is working normally in img2 when, right clicking any file in Dropbox, it should show options like view online, make available online, and make available offline,but thats not the case in img2

How can you claim it's functioning normally when we have to quit it constantly for it to work as shown in img3?

Could you please escalate our issue to higher-level support?