Why are my files corrupt?

[Cbrown1221]

I have JUST noticed today that MANY files on my dropbox are corrupt.  Some are new, some are 4 years old.  I click on it, it says "Word unable to read this document.  It may be corrupt."

WHAT is going on?  How do I stop this infection?  Can I save any of these files?

[Jay]

Hi @Cbrown1221, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Are you viewing this on the Dropbox site, mobile app, or on your computer?

What version of Word are you using to preview the files?

This will help me to assist further!

[Cbrown1221]

I am viewing this on my computer.  I am using 

Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2312 Build 16.0.17126.20132) 64-bit

[Jay]

Do any of the files preview on the Dropbox site? Is there any version history on them to show that they were changed?

[Cbrown1221]

They do not preview on Dropbox.  There are no previous versions available.  Details are unavailable for the selected file.

There's gotta be 50-100 of these in my dropbox.

[Jay]

It sounds like the files are corrupted somehow. If there's no version history on them, it could mean that they were originally uploaded corrupted, or it's outside the recovery period.

[Cbrown1221]

These files range in time from last week to 3 years ago.  If they had been uploaded wrong, it seems it would have occurred years ago.  Dropbox seems the common denominator.  I have subfolders, and NONE of the documents in the subfolders are corrupt.  In addition, some of the corrupted files are PDFs . . . and I scanned those in.   

[Jay]

Is it possible that the files were affected by ransomware or any malware on your machine?

Are these files in private or shared folders?

[Cbrown1221]

These are in shared folders.  I share dropbox with two people  I don't know of any malware - I will run my McAfee

[Cbrown1221]

I did a search and did not find any malware or viruses or anything