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Files will not open on deskop

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Tony Grewal

From viewing my files on Box.com, when I try to open a Word or Excel file onto the desktop, nothing happens. The files will not open on the desktop (not in Excel or Word).

I have tried other file types, e.g. PDF, and those documents will not open either

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Comments

28 comments

Date Votes
  • France
    • Edited

    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.

     

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  • 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

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  • 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.

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  • Box User
    • Edited

    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.

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  • 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.

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  • MartinFabian
    • Edited

    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.
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  • Haruhiko Shirota
    • Edited

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

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  • 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

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  • 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.

     

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  • 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. 

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  • Brett Jackson

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

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  • 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.

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  • 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. 

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  • Peggy Findley
    • Edited

    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.

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  • 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.

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  • Alex Pöschl

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

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  • 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.

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  • TEA GCE SSP Vickery, Heidi

    Same issue here. Ridiculous. Mine just sits on "Launching Application" and nothing happens. I am thinking Box is not the option for large corporate environments - too many sporadic issues and the support is lacking.

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  • Stephanie Wilson Archer

    Really Box? 4 years and no resolution on this??

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  • Daniel Alderink
    • Edited

    One thing I've found that works: 


    Right click on the Box Edit icon in the taskbar and quit the program. 

    Open Box Edit manually from your Program Files folder on your pc. 

    Refresh the Box folder with the file you're trying to open.

    Try opening the file. 

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  • Chris Desko

    I have this issue.  It works fine, then quits working at some point in the day.  

    Daniel, your comment to quit the Box Edit worked.

    When Box wouldn't open the word or excel file in full version, I did these simple steps.

    1) Right click on the Box Edit icon in the taskbar and quit the program. 

    2) refreshed the Box screen to take it back to the file view (not trying to open)

    3) Open with MS Word (or Excel).  

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  • Anne Steciw
    • Edited

    I have also been having this issue and found the steps outlined by Daniel to work consistently. What I've noticed is that the issue seems to crop up whenever I am reopening a file that someone else has renamed. A warning window pops up letting me know the file was renamed and giving me an option to open using the renamed file. But if I choose that option, the file doesn't open. If I follow the steps to close out Box Edit and try again, I do not receive the popup window about the file being renamed. It just happened to me again when I tried to open such a file. So it seems like something is broken with Box Edit's handling of renamed files. 

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  • Anne Steciw

    To be clear: If I open a file and save it, then someone else opens the file and renames and saves it, then I try to open the file a second time (after it's been renamed by someone else) and that's when the problem occurs of the file not opening. I have not tested the scenario of opening/renaming/opening a file with myself only.

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  • Joel Smith

    There have been a couple comments saying you can fix the problem this first step:  "1) Right click on the Box Edit icon in the taskbar and quit the program."

    What's the "Box Edit icon in the taskbar" and where is it?  

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  • Chris Desko

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  • Morgan Scott

    Coming here to just say I've been dealing with this same issue and that the fix stating to quit the Box Edit program completely works! Thank you to Daniel for figuring this out and posting the solution.

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  • Miki GOTO

    Same here. Wondering this for ages. Thanks for those useful solutions in all previous comment.

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  • Kirsten Anna Sheehy

    If the above solutions don't work for you, I also had success with the first response here: https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/9597952583699-Box-Drive-not-downloading-Files

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