How to Edit Dropbox Files on the Computer and Cloud?

Are you considering switching to Dropbox from Google Drive, OneDrive or similar service? If so, you must have wondered whether you can directly open or edit your documents on the fly. Surely, no one likes to download each file, edit it and then re-upload it again. Doing so defeats the whole purpose of using a cloud service in the first place. Thankfully, Dropbox supports some popular file formats including Microsoft Office files, PDF Document, AutoDesk & AutoCad files. Other file formats are also supported as long as their corresponding editing apps are found on Dropbox’s AppStore. In this article we’ll discuss how to edit your Dropbox files from the cloud as well as your PC. Let’s begin.

A) Editing Dropbox Files on the Cloud

Keep in mind, when you edit a document on the Dropbox, the original file is never replaced. Dropbox saves the edited file with additional text to the original file name.

1. Editing Office Documents in Dropbox

Applicable to: Word Document, Excel Spreadsheet and PowerPoint Presentation. Other Office formats are not supported at this time.

1. Open Dropbox and sign in to your account.
2. Click on the Shared Folder tab.
3. Go to the folder that contains your Office document/ file.
4. Click on the Ellipsis (…) icon next to the file you want to edit.
5. Select “Open”, followed by “Word for the Web”.
6. Your Office file will be automatically opened in the Office for Web cloud platform.
7. You can modify your file the way you like, and then use the “Save an return to Dropbox” option to save your changes and start syncing with other devices.

2. Editing PDF Documents in Dropbox

Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are quite common these days. Thanks to the cross-platform compatibility and other readability features, they are widely used. You can edit your PDFs through Dropbox as below:

1. Open Dropbox and sign in to your account.
2. Click on the Shared Folder tab.
3. Go to the folder that contains a Portable Document Format (PDF) file that you want to edit.
4. Click on the Edit option on the top right corner of the file’s thumbnail.
5. The PDF will be opened on the cloud interface for editing. You can edit it as you may want. For example:
   • To add a new page, click on the “Insert page” icon.
   • To rotate a page, click on the “Rotate left” or “Rotate right” icons.
   • To remove a page from your PDF, click on the “Delete page” icon.
6. Once you’re done, click on the “Done” button.
7. If you want to save the edited PDF as a new file, select the option “Save a copy”. To overwrite the old PDF with the newly edited PDF, select the “Replace original” option.

3. Editing AutoDesk and AutoCad Files in Dropbox

AutoDesk is popularly used for architecture, building construction and engineering. Similarly, AutoCad is used for 2D and 3D drafting, designing the surfaces, objects, among others.

Dropbox supports integration with both the AutoDesk and AutoCad software. Regardless of the AutoDesk and AutoCad versions used, your files can still be viewable and editable using Dropbox no matter which device you use. You can share these files with your colleagues with just a few clicks. Moreover, AutoDesk software also provides an option to automatically export your content to Dropbox as part of your backup, security strategies.

To integrate Dropbox with AutoDesk, sign in to your Dropbox account and open the Dropbox App Extensions page and look for the AutoDesk plugin.

4. Editing Other File Formats in Dropbox

Apart from the above file formats discussed, Dropbox also supports some other file formats. In order for you to edit those file types, there must be compatible third-party apps available in the Dropbox’s App Center.

If a compatible app is not available, there is no way to edit that file type. In that case, you’ll need to download it, edit from your PC and then re-upload again.

1. Sign in to your Dropbox account.
2. Click on the Grid icon.
3. Select App Center.
4. Use the Search box to look for an app that supports your desired file format.
5. If the app has been found, click on Connect.
6. Now, go to the folder that contains the file you want to edit.
7. Click the ‘…” (Ellipsis) icon next to your file.
8. Choose Open.
9. Select the relevant app that you recently connected in Step # 5.

B) Editing Dropbox Files on the Computer

Much like you can edit Dropbox files online, you can edit them when they’re synced on your computer offline. However, in order to accomplish that, the Dropbox desktop application is required.

1. Download Dropbox desktop application.
2. Open the downloaded setup and continue with the installation.
3. Once the install is finished, sign-in with your Dropbox account.
4. Open File Explorer in Windows.
5. Go to the folder that contains the file you want to edit. Right-click that file, and select the option “Make available offline”.
6. Wait until you see a green checkbox to the top right corner of that file. If you don’t see the “Make available offline” option or it is grayed out, it’s possible that your file is already synced offline.
7. Right-click your file, select Open with, followed by the name of the corresponding application you want to use for editing.
8. After you’ve finished editing the file, be sure to save it. Dropbox will automatically synchronize any changes you’ve made to its server and the file will be available across any devices connected to your Dropbox account. That’s it, it’s that simple!