Dropbox doesn't preview JPEG files, as they appear to be corrupted.

[DariaV]

Hi everyone!

Found out Dropbox doesn't open specific files I uploaded some time ago.

I have multiple folders in which some files are ok while others can't be opened for some reason. All of them are JPEG and all of them have size <10MB.

The issue is on both web and app. When I try to open them on the app, I see "Couldn't preview the file. Try again later" text. When I do this on web, I see this: 

I can't save them, when I try to, I see:

But I can download and when I do, I can't view them anyway, although my Mac also sees the size but says the file can't be open as it might be corrupted. 

I also have videos that don't open but they are non-existent for some reason, from what I can see: they say they are 0:00 minutes long. I can let go of videos but those photos are my only copy as I actually started using Dropbox with the assumption I can trust it and save all my photos without any backups. 

Is there a way I can access those files???

Thanks in advance! 

[Nancy]

Thanks for posting about this here, @DariaV!

Do you remember if you could previously preview these files normally or if the upload was successful when you first added them to Dropbox? 

Also, when you mention your Mac computer, do you mean that you have the desktop app installed there? If you do, can you also attach a screenshot of how these files appear inside your local Dropbox folder? 

Keep me posted for any updates.

[DariaV]

Hi Nancy!

I remember accessing some of those files for sure before. Not all of them probably because I didn't open all of them. I started noticing the issue some time ago, probably around 2-3 weeks ago. 

And no, I am not using the desktop version. I can see a file on Mac in Finder once it's downloaded. 

[Walter]

Hey @DariaV, could you clarify your last point for me please? Are you able to open those files normally after you download them on your Mac or not?

Do you any previous versions on the files to restore perhaps?

Also, do you remember how you had uploaded them in the first place? Was it through the website or the mobile app?

[DariaV]

Hi Walter!

No, I am not able to open them on Mac. It says they are corrupted.

No, I don't have any previous versions, unfortunately. These are rather old photos, originals were deleted from iPhone years ago. 

I uploaded them via the website. I would download them from a different storage and then upload them to Dropbox. 95% of photos I was uploading this way are completely fine. 

[Nancy]

Thanks @DariaV! Can we email you to the email address you see here? We can investigate further this way.