The Dropbox (Beta) integration with Microsoft 365/Word changes the last modified date.

[laslaw01]

WARNING for users of Dropbox (Beta) integration with Microsoft 365/Word

Anyone concerned with the "last modified date" of their files should NOT use the Dropbox (Beta) integration sent out by Dropbox earlier in the week. Once the Beta is installed in Word, it will alter the dates of every file you open, even if you do nothing to the file. If the last modified date was, say, June 27,  opening the file merely to look at, making NO changes, the last modified date will change to the date you open the file. The problem occurs in Mac and Windows.

This is a disaster for law offices, which count on the last modified dates in a number of ways.

[LynnDbx]

Thanks for the report. We have escalated this to the appropriate engineering team and they're going to take a look to see what's going on here and whether this is something we can control on Dropbox's side or if we'll need to work with Microsoft to see what's going on here.

[EL-DBX]

Thank you for flagging this issue. I see how frustrating it is that opening your files changed the last modified dates.

We have fixed the issue such that this will not happen going forward: if you have the beta integration enabled, only opening the files will not change the date. However, the new fix does not retroactively update the dates of files that you have previously opened to date.