Why don't I see the Open button?

There are a few things that can prevent the Open button from appearing for a particular file. If you're not seeing the Open button, please review the troubleshooting steps below.

Is the link pointing to a file already in your Dropbox?

The Open button will only appear for files already synced with your computer's local Dropbox folder. A quick way to see if a file exists in your local Dropbox folder is to navigate to the location of the file within your Dropbox folder using your file browser (for example Finder or Windows Explorer).

Is the Dropbox desktop application running on your computer?

In order for the Open button to appear, the Dropbox application must be running on your computer, and you must be signed in to the same account on both the Web application and the desktop client. A quick way to see if the Dropbox application is running is to look for the Dropbox icon in your computer's system tray or menu bar (near the clock).

Make sure your computer meets the system requirements.

Are you signed in to the correct account?

Double check that you've signed in to the same Dropbox account on both the web browser and the Dropbox desktop application.

Make sure that ports 17600 and 843 are available.

The Open button requires that the Dropbox desktop application have access to ports 17600 and 843. It's possible that a firewall or antivirus application may be preventing Dropbox from using one or both of these ports. If this is the case, you may need to configure your firewall or antivirus to allow Dropbox access to these ports.