Problem with file saved to DropBox

[david weaverParticipant]

I have a file saved to DropBox that will not download or open when double clicked. Right clicking on the file in the DropBox folder does not give me the DropBox contextual menu that allows me to set the file location to offline only. All other files in this DropBox folder behave as they should. I can go to DropBox online and download the file, but it this downloaded file not open in DataGraph either.

The file I have downloaded from DropBox on the web allows me to explore the package contents in the finder. Are there any files (.plist) in the package contents that I should look to delete? Are there any edits to files in the package contents that can be suggested to resurrect the file? Any suggestions welcome.

[dgteamModerator]

All *.dgraph files are folders that use an Apple standard called a package file.  So, for any dgraph file, you can right-click and ask to show package contents.  Then, you will see the contents, as you can see above.  When a folder ends in *.dgraph it will look like a file in the Finder.

It sounds like for some reason when the folder is downloaded, it is not recognized by the system as a datagraph file. It could be that it does not have the extention *.dgraph any more.  In that case, you need to change the name of the folder.

But just to step back a bit.  We would recommend downloading DropBox for mac to sync your files.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dropbox-cloud-files-storage/id327630330

I tested a datagraph file using the DropBox App to handle the syncing. Here is the DopBox folder showing the draph file, as file.  You can double click the file to open and edit from here and the file contents will syn with DropBox.

If you go to dropbox in the web, it will show as a folder.

In the preferences of dropbox on the Mac, you can pick which folders you want to sync. So it doesn’t have to sync everything that’s in your dropbox. You can even pick individual datagraph files, again they show up as folders.

FYI – We also tried downloading the SawTooth.dgraph folder from the web interface. It downloaded as a zip file.  When we double clicked the zip file it extracted the “folder”, and the Apple system recognized it as a DataGraph file.

Maybe you didn’t need all this detail but we thought it might be helpful for you to see how we use DropBox.  Also, from the screenshot you sent it is hard to tell if there’s a problem with this file or not. What we would need to look at is the size of the files in the package. For example, here is what our file looks like when you examine the package contents.

You would not want to delete any of these.  But if your plist files are zero bytes that could be a problem.

So the first thing I would check is the file extension in the Finder, and make sure that it ends with .dgraph. If it does not, then rename the file or folder, if it shows up that way. If it is named properly, what happens when you double click the file to open? Do you get an error from DataGraph?

Also, if it’s not opening, you can examine the package contacts as you are already doing. If you have files in the contents with zero bytes, that can be a problem. You may need to go into Dropbox and search back in the history of that file to recover the data. Feel free to send us a screenshot with the size of the files. You could also zip and email us the file contents at “help @ visualdatatools.com”.

With all that said, one more important thing. In our next version of DataGraph, we are releasing a new single file format option. You will save your files with the extension *.dgraphs.  You try this out now in the DataGraph Beta.

Hope this helps!

 

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