Download button is unresponsive when trying to download password-protected files from the website

Hi there, TKHammond, welcome to the Dropbox Community and sorry to see you're having this issue.

Does this only happen with password-protected files? Can you download other kinds of files?

Have you tried from a different browser, to see if the behavior persists?

Let me know what you find.

Hello and thank you, Hannah.

Yes, this happens only with password-protected files. My preferred browser is Edge, but I tried it just now in Chrome--same behavior.

Hey TKHammond!

I was wondering if these are shared files, or files that you created.

Also, is the "Download" button greyed out, or does it look normal? Can you send me a screenshot, please?

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

Hi Megan,

None of the files are shared files, and all are files that I created--some in their entirety, like Excel files, others that I've modified, like PDF forms that I've filled in, password-protected, then saved.

The "Download" button appears to be active in the various places it appears in the interface. Here's one screenshot I took after selecting a password-protected file:

One thing I noticed while preparing to reply to you is that I AM able to download a password-protected TurboTax data file (the "*.tax2024" file type). The files with which I've encountered this download problem are Excel and PDF.

Hey TKHammond, one more question, please.

Has this always been the case for you, or is this an issue that just surfaced? 

That's a good question, Megan. I think I can safely say that it hasn't always been the case. At some point, I'm guessing, within the past couple of years, I recall being surprised and puzzled by this behavior. It took me a while to realize what the files in question had in common: all were password-protected. 

It's an issue for me only at work. For security reasons, shortly before Covid I think, my company stripped us of the ability to sync Dropbox to our laptops. Prior to that, it was synced to both my personal and work laptops, during which time I rarely used the web interface. Since the tighter security has been implemented, if I want to access a personal file while at work, I have to login to the website and download it. That's fine, unless the file is password-protected.

I hope this context helps.

Thanks!

Hi Megan,

Yes, and YES!!

Why didn't I think of that? It means downloading those files one at a time, but at least now I know how to do it.

Thank you very much for your help!

Hey there TKHammond​ and welcome welcome to the Dropbox Community. I am glad to see you got your downloading issues resolved thanks to Megan​ and Hannah​ 's amazing assistance here. 

I'm Theresa by the way, and you might see me about the Community here. I love to hear how our Community members use Dropbox on the daily. 

If you're open to sharing, please let me know - I'd really love to hear your Dropbox story 😄

T 😺 (Dropbox Community Manager) 

Hi Theresa,

I've been using Dropbox for years to store my important personal files. For most of that time, I synced it to both my personal and business laptops. As explained earlier in this thread, my employer no longer allows syncing to my business laptop, so I access my personal files when necessary at work using my browser. Manually moving files during those times is more cumbersome, but at least it's a work-around that's available to me.

Dropbox seamlessly meets my needs on my personal computer. At the moment those needs are pretty straightforward. I know it offers many features I'm not using. Maybe someday I'll explore them.

Though I've been using Dropbox for a while, I'm new to this user forum. Question: When I receive email notifications that someone has responded a comment, can I reply via email? I've been coming back to the forum to do so. Is that necessary?

Thank you, Theresa Megan​ and Hannah​ for your help with my issue!