Why is Dropbox unable to upload my files?

Updated Jan 24, 2025

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The information in this article applies to all Dropbox users.

You can store web-based files in Dropbox, but you can’t add or move them to your Dropbox account from somewhere else. Web-based files include:

  • Google Docs (.gdoc)
  • Google Sheets (.gsheet)
  • Google Slides (.gslides)


To move web-based files to your Dropbox account, you have 2 options:

1. You can download (or export) a copy of your file as a file type that can be added to Dropbox (like .docx), and then upload it to Dropbox (but it won’t be a web-based file anymore).

Learn how to download a copy of your Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file.

2. You can create a new web-based file in Dropbox, and then copy and paste the contents over to it from the web-based version of the file.

Learn how to create Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dropbox.

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