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Forum Discussion
Is there a way to choose whether .zip files are previewing on the Dropbox website?
I'm a long time Dropbox user and today I went to check if some older links were still active that I had sent to a cleint. Most of the files are send out are zipped for various reasons.
It ...
Thanks for the help but I do know how to delete a file or fodler :)
I guess what I'm seeing is that the contents of zip files never used to be visible and the zip file itslef was in the middle of the screen with a simple downlaod button.
Now, with certain cases, my cleints see a mess of files that are in the zip file and are tempted to click on them and get confused and have to find the downlaod button at the top right of the screen.
I really don't care for this and I wish Drobbox would revert to how it used to be, just showing the main zip file and having a downlaod button in the center of the screen.
At first I thought that Drobpx was offering an unzipeed version but as I look closer it just seems that it's shownig the contents of the zip file which in my opinion only adds confusion and isn't helpful.
I guess this is a new "feature" as of last week but IMO it's a TERRIBLE idea.
Being able to see the contents of a zip is only going to confuse the person on the receiving end.
We needd a simple big Download button and no previews of the zip file contents. Right now the downlaod button is not so obvious and clients are going be confused as to why they can see the zip file contents but not acess them without eventually noticing the Download button in the top right menu.
- Rich
Super User II
MRMJP wrote:We needd a simple big Download button and no previews of the zip file contents.
Before you send your link, change the ?dl=0 at the end of the link to ?dl=1 and the link will become a direct download link with no preview.
Thanks RIch,
I was hoping there was at least a workaround for now.I send out many links each day so I'm hoping I don't have to do this long-term though.
Do you have any news on this? I've already had a few clients this week emailing me because seeing all files in the zip adds confusion and the download button is not always obvious. They can't figure out what they are supposed to do. Keep in mind we have clients of all types and computer skill levels. It needs to be basic.
This has to be changed back.
I tried the work around of changing the 0 to a 1 but then I found out the hard way that the iOS app that this link is sometimes used for doesn't work beacuse it's expecting a link with a 0 at the end.
I really hope Dropbox reverts to how it used to be beause this will get annoying fast and I'm already looking into an alternative options which in unfortunate beacuse I am happy with the service overall. This new feature however makes no logical sense.
- Thank you!
- Jane
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for the info. This idea may seem good on paper I don't see the point in previewing the contents of a zip file if you can't also acess it directly. They have to downlaod it anyway.
Often times zip files are zipped for a reason, to keep a group of files together. Now I have cleints emailing me about why they can see the files within the zip, but can't actually open them. I have to explain that they need to find the no so obvious downlaod button and download it all first.
I does them no good to see inside of it. They and I both know what shoud be inside of the zip, that is why I made it.
For one file set in particualr, an audio DDP image, it only works if all the files are presnt so tempting people by to see and access the individual files in their browser is not helping and only adding confusion.
Do you have any news on this? It seems that many people do not like this new feature and it's actually problematic in some cases.
I really think it needs to be reverted to the old behavior ASAP.
If anything, if you want to see into a zip file, it should be a special harder to find feature but keep the old way of a zip file being displayed as zipped with a simple download button as the default method.This is causing daily problems for our company which is globally using dropbox with roughly 200 employees (over seperate office accounts) and our largest clients at 1500+ employees. This specific issue is simply intolerable and has now put in motion the debate of which alternative solution to switch to, abandoning the use of dropbox. If there is any intention to correct this problem (not manually changing last digits of the links from 0 to 1) or at least bringing back a prominent, obvious download button alongside .zip archive links within the browser, please let us know asap, thank you.
- Jane
