Welcome to the new Box Support website. Check out all the details here on what’s changed.

Files will not open on deskop

New post

Comments

17 comments

  • France

    Hi Tony, 

    Welcome to the Box Community!

    Do you have Box Tools installed to be able to edit your Box files with your MS apps on your desktop? 

    Are you getting any sort of error message when attempting to open your files in Box.com? Can you shared it here? This will help out other members of the community to answer your question and figure out the issue you encounter.

     

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Tony Grewal

    Hi France, 

    That is strange. I am using a company laptop and I do not recall installing Box Tools due to strict policies and have been happy editing documents using MS apps on my laptop until recently. Anyway, I have been able to install Box Tools and can now edit documents via MS apps.

    Thanks for the help

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Jason Torrie

    I am having a similar issue. My excel files inconsistently open in the desktop app. I have downloaded Box Tools, but I do not see a change.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Box User

    Hi France,

    I'm experiencing the same issue to be able to open my Word document on the desktop directly from Box.com.  Box Tool was downloaded to my personal computer, I think but it does not open the file.  It just says it cannot open the file after going through the load bar?

    Follow up:  Never mind.  I re-ran the Box Tool download executable file and did a repair and it seems to work now.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Shawnay Faircloth

    Same issue as the others since mid-January 2021. I cannot open a Word document on my desktop nor will it save it back to Box. I have installed and reinstalled Box Tool.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • MartinFabian

    I have Box Edit installed and it works intermittently, now and then an Excel or Word file that I have on Box will nor open on my laptop, even though when I right-click the file in Box and select "Open with... Microsoft Excel", the expected dialog appears saying: 

    Launching Application

    "file.xlsx" is opening in Microsoft Excel. Saving your file will save changes directly back to Box.
     
    But then nothing else happens. The information box to lower right with the progress bar does not open. If I try another file, that file may open fine. Sometimes the same file opens if I try to open it a few times.
    Is there something I can do to fix this?
     
    I'm using Box and Box Edit through Chrome Version 89.0.4389.90 (Official Build) (64-bit) on W10 x64 1909.
    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Haruhiko Shirota

    I have the same issue. "Launching Application" shows up but nothing happens after that. Any workaround? 

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Jacques Fayet-Faber

    same here this is a recurring problem that keeps coming & going & Box has done nothing to solve the problem. even in large corporate environments

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Adrian Tinker

    Have we got a solution for this. I have just started using Box and the first few days all files would open. Now they don't. I get the information below.

     

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Matthew van Wollen

    Our company has been a Box customer for over 8 years and this issue started occurring last year. It is really frustrating as the cause is not known and there doesn't seem to be a resolution. We use Box Drive and randomly cannot open MS Office documents from a desktop PC. 

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Brett Jackson

    I am having a similar problem intermittently. I notice that if I restart my PC it will solve the issue. 

    -1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Tiffany English

    I am really annoyed.  I cannot open Word files any way I try - whether online or on my own computer.  I have restarted my computer and done everything I can think of including downloading and trying to open to no avail. Very frustrated because I can't get my work done.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Matthew van Wollen

    Tiffany, I found the source of the problem -- at least for our instance. It was due to the fact that the full filename including folder path was greater than 256 characters. We pruned the folder tree and shortened certain folder names, and voila: Word files would open. 

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Peggy Findley

    I use the Desktop Box Drive and I'm having the same issue with some Word and Excel doc's but not all. I don't want to download them again...very inconvenient. Is there any resolution?

    PS: it's not that the title string is too long, well under 256 characters.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Andrew Duda

    I see some time past since last post and nothing has been fixed. It looks like same story all over. If is working good then it is ok but when people want something to be fixed they just have us "you know" where.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Alex Pöschl

    Same problem here on Win 11 with Box Sync. PDF are not opening on desktop even though it is fully synced.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Kris Muhl

    Same/Similar problem. Windows 11. Box Drive. Some, but not all, Adobe PDF. MS Word and MS Excel files. Excel and Word act like they will open but then they do not. Adobe PDFs give me an Access Denied error. I copy them from Box and Paste them to my C drive...and they all open just fine.

    This is a big problem because these files are for a committee comprised of people from all across the company - many leadership positions. The files open/display fine when going through a web browser...but the browser is clunky for me when I am working with the files and preparing them for the committee...and not knowing if they will open or not is not a good feeling.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink

Please sign in to leave a comment.