Re: pdf files in dropbox folders will not open in MacOS Safari

Glenn M.5 · ‎06-27-2023

I'm running Dropbox on MacOS Ventura. I tend to bookmark pdf files in Safari for quick access. I'm finding that pdf files in Dropbox folders will no longer open in Safari. However, if I move the pdf out of Dropbox, it opens fine.

This is a new issue. Has never been a problem before.

I cleared the Safari cache.

LynnDbx · ‎07-06-2023

Thank you so much for the detailed information! I've taken a further look, and we believe you are hitting a known issue on macOS 13.4. Apple has confirmed that a fix for this behavior is in macOS 13.5 and I've personally confirmed this works on macOS 13.5 as well.

macOS 13.5 is currently in Beta and should release to the general population sometime in July (they haven't published an exact date yet). Please let us know if this continues to happen after updating to macOS 13.5 when that update becomes available. Unfortunately there is not a workaround that Dropbox can do on our side so we have to wait for the macOS update.

View solution in original post

Walter · ‎06-27-2023

Hey @Glenn M.5 , sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Can you please try another browser and/or a private browsing window with no extensions or plugins running and let us know if you notice any difference?

Thanks!

Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

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Glenn M.5 · ‎06-27-2023

If I open in Chrome, no problem. Definitely a Safari/Dropbox issue.

Hannah · ‎06-28-2023

Thanks for the update here, @Glenn M.5.

You can try clearing Safari's cache to see if that helps as well.

Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

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Glenn M.5 · ‎06-28-2023

I cleared the cache using the option in Safari's Develop menu. No difference.

Walter · ‎06-28-2023

Does the issue persist on a private browsing window as well @Glenn M.5 ?

If so, have you ensured that your browser's version is up to date?

Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

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Glenn M.5 · ‎06-29-2023

Same problem with private browsing on. The message is "Failed to open page," regardless of whether private browsing is on or off.

Glenn M.5 · ‎06-30-2023

I believe I found the source of the problem but not a solution. On a separate (and fully up to date Mac) pdf files in dropbox were opening fine in Safari. This Mac had the dropbox location as /Users/username/Dropbox. However, the dropbox app updated moving the folder to /Users/username/CloudStorage/Dropbox. Now the issue is happening on this Mac, as well. It's the new location that's giving problems. The message in Safari is "Safari Can't Open the Page."

Dropbox folks, please fix this.

Rich · ‎06-30-2023

@Glenn M.5 wrote:

However, the dropbox app updated moving the folder to /Users/username/CloudStorage/Dropbox. Now the issue is happening on this Mac, as well.

Are the files marked as Available offline, or Online-only? Mark one as Available offline and see if the issue persists for that file.

Glenn M.5 · ‎06-30-2023

The files are already downloaded, hence, available offline. If I move pdf files out of dropbox, they open fine in Safari. If you have a Mac available, give it a try. Place a pdf in a Dropbox folder, then with Safari, use File>Open File... and see if it opens.