Corrupted Word Documents

[GillW]

I am at my wit's end!  I didn't realise that DropBox would corrupt files.  I now have several Word documents in a folder that I need for my course work assessment which are no longer Word documents and which won't open.  I'm actually really worried - I trusted DropBox and am actually thinking I shouldn't have...Can anyone tell me what has happened please?

Also my tutor is unable to open the PDF files - they open with a padlock and are so tiny he can't read them...he is one of those listed as being able to open them (TM ).

Please help me - I need all this for my assessment and am now seriously worried.

Thank you.

[Megan]

Hey @holpolshuf, do you use any other cloud services along with Dropbox?

This is a Windows icon and not a Dropbox icon. Keep in mind that while in File Explorer, a gray “X” icon can appear in a file or folder in your Dropbox folder sometimes.

It indicates that your file or folder may not be syncing with Dropbox.

To fix this, please try the steps in this article about fixing syncing issues in Dropbox. If that doesn’t fix it, you can also contact Microsoft support.

[holpolshuf]

I sometimes use Google Drive, but none of the corrupted files are in Drive or came from Drive.  There were no disk issues, so moving on to attempt all the other fixes.  

[jhoney12]

Yay! Even though the issue was for someone else, we benefited from the solution as well. Thanks to everyone for the help!

[Chloemaryland]

I have Word documents in Dropbox on my desktop that when I attempt to open them, I receive this message:

Word was unable to read this document. It may be corrupt. Try one or more of the following:  Open and Repair the file. Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.

I can't figure out how to repair them. The same files on my phone in Dropbox are fine. Help, please!

[holpolshuf]

You should read Megan's suggestions to me since I posted the exact same issue.