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
novalin
3 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Sharing a file with people without Dropbox accounts
I have a PDF I want to share with people so they can download it, but I don't want them to have to create a Dropbox account (or sign in) to download it.
Is there a way to do this with Dropbox? ...
- 3 years ago
Hey novalin, thanks for sending me the steps.
It sounds as if you've shared the file directly, instead of using a shared link. Can you try following these steps and share the link to them via an email or any other means?
They should be able to view the link without a Dropbox account too.
novalin
Helpful | Level 5
Hi. That's what I had done with my original test and the person I tested with hit a log in page.
Hannah
3 years agoDropbox Staff
Hey novalin, sorry to jump in here.
Shared links provide view-only access to the files you want to share, so the recipient is not required to have a Dropbox account.
Can you please describe the steps you followed to create and share a link to that file?
- novalin3 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Thanks for jumping in. Here's what I did:
- Logged into drop box
- Navigated to a folder
- Uploaded a PDF
- Clicked on the share icon
- Entered an email and clicked "share file"
- Recipient received an email and clicked the link
- Megan3 years agoDropbox Staff
Hey novalin, thanks for sending me the steps.
It sounds as if you've shared the file directly, instead of using a shared link. Can you try following these steps and share the link to them via an email or any other means?
They should be able to view the link without a Dropbox account too.
- novalin3 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Hi. Using the "copy link" option also results in the recipient hitting a log in screen. However, you can dismiss the log in screen and still download the file. While it does work it's just a bad user experience to hit people with a disruptive log in screen.
About View, download, and export
Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.
Need more support
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!