Cannot preview or see my Box excel files on my laptop.

Since your Box Excel files preview fine on other devices but not on your laptop, the issue is likely local to that machine. First, ensure your laptop’s internet connection is stable and that the Box app or Box Drive is running and fully synced. Clear the cache for both Box and your browser, and try downloading the files directly to open in Excel to rule out preview or integration issues. Check that Excel is updated, set as the default program for .xlsx files, and that there are no conflicting Office versions installed. Also, verify that Box and Excel have proper permissions on your laptop (especially on macOS or with Windows admin rights). If problems persist, try repairing or reinstalling Box Drive and Excel. Finally, note any error messages during attempts to preview or open files, and consider any recent system changes or updates that might have triggered this. 

Hi ​@s3c, 

Welcome to Box Community, and we’re glad to help with the issue on preview. 

Upon checking it indicates that you have already collaborated with one of our team members. Please keep an eye out on your existing case and a member will be in touch. 

Thanks for posting, and we look forward in getting this sorted out very soon!

Thank you for responding.  Couple issues:

1. How do I clear Box cache?
2. Excel is working fine on my laptop for all non-Box excel files.
3. What is the difference between Box and “Box Drive”?  How do I access Box Drive rather than simply signing into my Box.com homepage (where all of my saved Box files are accessbile from)?

Hi ​@s3c, 

Thank you for responding, and we’ll be more than happy to answer to your questions, 

1. To clear your browser’s cache and cookies, please follow the instructions according to your browser. You can find them in this support article. 
2. Did you try to download your affected (excel) file from Box.com? If so, are you able to preview the items locally? 

3. Box.com is the web-based interface of Box, where users can access, upload, share, and manage their files directly through a browser. It provides full online access to all Box content. 

   Box Drive, on the other hand, is a desktop application that streams all your Box content to your local computer’s file system (Windows Explorer or Mac Finder) without taking up much hard drive space. It allows you to work with files as if they were stored locally, including opening, editing, and saving files directly from your desktop, with changes automatically syncing back to Box.com. Box Drive also supports offline access by marking folders for offline use, which downloads those contents locally.

To get started with Box Drive, I have listed down articles you could visit to get you the information that you need: 

• About Box Drive
• Installing and Updating Box Drive
• Making Content Available Offline
• Technical Information for Box Drive Administrators

Hope it helps, and please let us know if you have clarifications. 

Hi ​@s3c, thank you for the speedy response! Glad to hear that you’re up and running. 

In the future, if you run into issues again kindly visit us back here in the Community or reach out to us by contacting Support.

Thanks for posting!