I can preview offline files on my Android device, but I can't open them with Microsoft.

Hey Pdecort - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Does it happen with only a particular file or all of your offline files? Did you try rebooting your device  and/or clearing the app's cache since you first noticed this?

If you did and still get the same results, could you try another WiFi or cellular data? 

Let me know more and we'll take it from there. 

Hello,

Thanks for your prompt reply.
I have the same issue with multiple offline files.
When I have data/wifi I am able to sync the files successfully and get the green 'tick' indicating it has synced successfully.

The problem is when I go 'offline' - i.e. turn my wifi/data off; or go somewhere without data reception - i.e. 'offline'. At that point I am no long able to open the files which are already downloaded for 'offline' use. Thanks.

Can you also confirm that you're using these steps to offline your files Pdecort?

In the meantime, you could try exporting the files to your device locally, if needed. 

Hello Walter - yes I have used those steps (Android) and - as I mentioned - I have the green tick indicating that it has successfully downloaded the file for offline use. 

I only have DBox synced with one mobile device.

I tried some other files - a PDF and picture - and they do open offline. The Excel and Word documents do not. Also, the word document is 'password' protected and opens in Word on my phone in order to type in the password and open it... even if I'm not intending to edit it.

And is this affecting some specific Word and Excel files or all Pdecort?

Have you tried reinstalling the app or clearing the app's cache since you first noticed this? 

Hello, I cleared the 'Data' and 'cache' which removed the offline files.

I added some back in - using the toggle method as described above. They all seem to be working as I'd expect 'offline' now - except the 'password protected' word document...

It seems to have trouble with the 'preview' of the password protected file - and gives the message
"Network Error - couldn't connect to Dropbox. Please check your internet connection and try again. 
Open With..." button below.

If I hit the 'Open With' button and choose Word - I get the message I initially reported ("You can view it offline but you'll need an internet connection to edit it. OK"

From your comment earlier - I can 'Save to Device' (which is odd - as it's already saved to the device as it's downloaded offline) which saves it in the 'downloads' folder. I can then use a file-explorer type program (I prefer CX File Explorer on Android) to browse the file - which does open in Word.

It seems to be a problem passing the password-protected file from Dropbox cache to Word. Hope that helps.

I can't upload a photo with my post which is a shame.

Hey Pdecort, thanks for the additional info.

I'm afraid password protected files cannot be previewed in Dropbox; you can see more info about this here.

If you remove the password, are you able to preview it?

Hello Hannah,

As I've been explaining to Walter - I know they can not be previewed.

But it should be able to pass the file to the application which can open it - i.e. Word. Both DropBox and Word are installed on the phone so there is no need for an internet connection - just pass the file from the DB cache to Word to open.

It works with an internet connection - so that's the issue - why doesn't it work without an internet connection? Thanks.

I understand where you're coming from, Pdecort and we'll get to the bottom of this.

Just as a test, though, if you remove the password, does the issue persist?

Hello.
From my desktop I saved a copy of the document without a password and DropBox is able to preview it (as it's not password protected) - but if I try to open it in Word - it generates the same error. So it seems the problem is that Dropbox is unable to share the document from the DB Cache with Word when offline.

Testing with my wife's phone (S21) It won't open either word document in offline mode with no internet. so that's worse than my old phone!

Thanks for trying to help me troubleshoot!