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Forum Discussion
Why does Dropbox insist on renaming my files?
2020: "Stop renaming my files! (on auto phone upload)" by BoxyBeat https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Stop-renaming-my-files-on-auto-phone-upload/td-p/391599 Dropbox r...
So why does Dropbox insist on renaming my files?... because they/it can. It is that simple I'm afraid.
There is no way that forced renaming of Camera Upload files ever made sense. For it to pass as finalized was a thoughtless mistake and very surprising. As I wrote through the link below, I paste here:
Hello Dropbox,
I just switched from iCloud Photos to Dropbox Camera Uploads, and after moving some 2.7k+ files I realized they were all renamed. The original filenames were IMG_####.JPG for example. Now they are all a date and time. The old filenames are not even stored in metadata. This makes it impossible for me to check this batch for duplicates against a 15-year collection of some 42,000 other files. I definitely need the default device-given filenames, not forced renames.
You half-way integrated a potentially good idea, why would do you do that? It was absolutely important from the beginning to either provide users full control over the naming convention, or simply the option to turn yours off and keep the original filenames.
Yet, how many years has it been like this? I just found this out after it happened. You guys still don't want to do such a simple thing properly? I can't imagine the flow of files within your userbase, all of them subject to this. If I just ran 42k files through your naming convention by accident I'd be sick! Bewildering to think of users who probably have.
My direct next step is a dive into the iCloud trashcan. I will not use Dropbox Camera Uploads until this renaming idea is either done right or made possible to disable completely.
The simplest lack of thoughtfulness can really put a bullet in a good idea. That's a shame for what is otherwise a very impressive and helpful tool. I do love Dropbox. I don't love half-baked implementations that are ignored for years.
Danny
Linked from Dropbox forum post: Why-does-Dropbox-insist-on-renaming-my-files
P.S. you guys need a better arrangement for submitting problems and feature requests. Good community software comes from teams who are eager to listen to the community. Also, toss in a little common sense. Dropbox is wonderful, but it must continue to grow and be refined by its users. This is the lifeblood of the best user-based tools and software.
It is really amazing how the DropBoxers persist to forget to that this idea has been suggested already hundreds of times. They always return with the answer that if the idea is also appreciated by others they wil consider to have it developed. How many times does it need to be suggested and or supported by others?
It really makes no sense to change the name of a file by default. It should be the other way around, namely that as a user you should opt-in to the function to rename the camera uploads.
Also the renaming convention, which is suggested by dropbox, makes no sense as the options available are extremely limited (and you cannot even remove the file name which is made up by dropbox). So PLEASE, Dropboxers, finally accept that it is the sincere wish of your users that you Do Not change the names of our files. Please let me completely free in how I want to name my files....
Thanks!
