What do the Dropbox badge alerts mean?

Updated Jun 13, 2024

This article only applies to users who are using the Dropbox badge, and haven’t enabled Microsoft co-authoring. If you’ve enabled co-authoring, the badge will no longer appear.

For more information on co-authoring, visit this article.

The Dropbox badge will alert you as people open, edit, and update a shared Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel file. This article describes all the alerts you'll see.

Note: To use the Dropbox badge, your computer must have the Dropbox desktop app installed, and you must be connected to the internet. Learn more reasons for why the Dropbox badge may not appear.

Not using Dropbox yet? See how Dropbox can help with content collaboration.

Dropbox logo: You're alone in the file

When you’re the only collaborator in a document, you’ll see the Dropbox badge that lets you know that you’re working within Dropbox. You can click the badge to take quick actions like sharing a link and viewing previous versions.

Initials or photo: A collaborator opened the file

When another person opens the file you’re working on, you’ll see their profile photo or initials in the Dropbox badge.

Lock: A collaborator is editing the file

The Dropbox badge will let you know that others are editing the file by turning red and displaying a lock icon. You’ll still be able to edit the file, but the badge will warn you that if you and the other person continue editing at the same time, you may create different versions of the file.

Exclamation mark: You and a collaborator are both editing the file

When you and another person are editing a file at the same time, you’ll see the Dropbox badge turn red with an exclamation mark icon. When you see this, you can save your version of the file, and we’ll help the other person get your latest changes.

If the other person saves their changes to the file before you save yours, the badge will turn blue with a download arrow and you can update to their version.

Note: When working in an Excel file, the badge may always display an exclamation mark (even if you or other viewers have not yet edited a spreadsheet). We suggest that you ignore the exclamation mark. When your collaborators make and save any actual changes, follow the steps to update to the latest version of the document. Choose to discard your own changes or save them in a separate version through the badge.

When your collaborators make and save any actual changes, update to the latest version of the document. Choose to discard your own changes or save them in a separate version through the badge.

Download arrow: You can update to your collaborator's version

If you and someone else are both in the same file and the other person saves their changes, the badge will turn into a download arrow. This indicates that you don’t have the latest version of the file. You can update to the latest version from the badge.

Click the Dropbox badge when it shows the download arrow.
From the pop-out window, click Get [collaborator's name]'s version.
- To save your changes as a separate version, leave the Save my changes as a separate version checked. This will create a completely separate copy of the file with your changes and won't make any changes to the original file that your colleague already updated.
- To discard your unsaved changes, uncheck Save my changes as a separate version.

Learn more about conflicted copies.

Two files: You're viewing your own version

If you decided to check Save my changes as a separate version, both the shared version and your version will be open. You can tell which version is yours because it will show a grey Dropbox badge with an icon of two files.

This version will contain all the changes you were making before your colleague saved their changes. You can delete this separate version if you no longer need it. Through the grey badge, you can also open the latest, shared version.

Was this article helpful?

Yes, thanks

Not really