Editing Word docx stored in Dropbox

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Hi. I've got Word docs that I keep in a Dropbox folder, which I edit on two different laptops on the Dropbox account. I am the only user and have full access to both devices.

I would expect that if the file is open on one device, the other Word installation would only open it read-only, or would otherwise not allow it.

What I notice is that the file that Word creates for open files, with the filename like ~$Filename.docx, which always seemed involved in locking the file, is not being transferred by Dropbox, so the other Word installation is not aware that the device is being edited. That's kind of inconvenient.

Is there a trick to working on Word docs over Dropbox? Dropbox doesn't have an option for how it handles these kind of files. I'd prefer the folders fully mirror each other.

Thank you!

[Rudi]

Hi,

Does the advice in this article provide some clarity?

Some quotes from the article that may be of interest to you...

Dropbox uses a "conflicted copies" system when more than one person is working on the same file (or when the same user has a single document open in two locations). Changes to the file aren't automatically merged together by Dropbox; instead, it keeps two separate copies of the file for the user to merge or remove as required.

If conflicted copies are generated, use the date and user timestamp information to work out which version to keep. The conflicted copy function is activated even if the program in question allows for multi-user editing.

Conflicted copies can also be created by a single user who leaves a document open on one machine and returns to edit it on another -- whenever possible, make sure all of your Dropbox documents are closed down and saved when moving between machines.

Another link of interest: Co-authoring a document

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Thank you, Rudi, for these replies.

I'm aware of the "conflicted copies" phenomenon with Dropbox and have avoided that by being extra careful not to open any of the Word files on both devices. But doing that, and verifying that I have in fact done that before I start editing, is quite inconvenient.

When sharing a folder over a windows Homegroup, it is not possible to open a doc for editing if it is already open on another Homegroup device.

I'm hoping to find some way of doing that with docs shared over Dropbox.

What I'm finding is that Dropbox is simply not uploading the "lock" system files that Word creates where the first two characters of the file name are replaced with a tilde and dollar sign. And in the local absence of that file, the Word installation allows the actual docx file to be opened for editing.

[GeekGirlInFurs]

Quick follow up.

Here is a page at Dropbox that says it does not sync temporary system files on any operating system.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-up ... ot-syncing

On the one hand, I can understand why they wouldn't. On the other hand, it makes it cumbersome to avoid conflicted copies of files, and opens the risk of losing work, or having to manually reconcile conflicts.

Disappointing. :-(

[HansV]

For real-time co-authoring, all users need an Office 365 subscription, and the document needs to be uploaded to OneDrive, I think. See Collaborate on Word documents with real-time co-authoring.