You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

edh's avatar
edh
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago

Getting Share Link Before Upload Completes

Hi,   Is it possible to add a file to dropbox and get the share link *before* the upload completes?   We're adding video files, which may take several minutes to upload, so having the user wait i...
API
  • Greg-DB's avatar
    Greg-DB
    8 years ago
    No, I'm afraid I can't think of another workaround for this. Using the deprecated endpoint or using a placeholder file are the only things that come to mind.

    The shared links can't be "computed" exactly, since the token in the URL is randomly generated only when the link is created.
edh's avatar
edh
Explorer | Level 4

 Hey Greg,

 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

Can you think of any other work-aounds for this?  Would uploading a small (like 1 byte) file, getting the share link, then replacing it with the full video file (same file name) work?

 

thanks again

Greg-DB's avatar
Greg-DB
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
8 years ago
That should technically work, but I don't recommend it, since it makes the process less obvious/more error prone. For instance, it may make it less obvious if the actual file upload failed, since the the file would appear to already be there as far as the user can see, if they don't check the file size. The user may then download the temporary file without realizing it isn't the real file.
  • edh's avatar
    edh
    Explorer | Level 4
    8 years ago

    Thanks again, Greg.

     

    Any other suggestions or workarounds you can think of for this?

     

    Breaking up the user's workflow like this waiting for a download link is a non-starter for us.  (and as a user myself, it's painful! ;-) )

     

    Is there anyway to compute what the final share link will be, or anything elase we could try?

     

    Thanks!

     

    • Greg-DB's avatar
      Greg-DB
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      8 years ago
      No, I'm afraid I can't think of another workaround for this. Using the deprecated endpoint or using a placeholder file are the only things that come to mind.

      The shared links can't be "computed" exactly, since the token in the URL is randomly generated only when the link is created.

About Dropbox API Support & Feedback

Node avatar for Dropbox API Support & Feedback

Find help with the Dropbox API from other developers.

5,882 PostsLatest Activity: 5 hours ago
325 Following

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!