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Forum Discussion
Dropbox no longer overwriting files
A few days ago, Dropbox stopped overwriting files when I edit and re-save them. Now, every time I edit one of my files on iPad and save to Dropbox, it creates a new file ending in (1). It used to sim...
Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi aisb, welcome to our Community!
Can you let me know when this behavior started happening?
Also, what's the version of the app that you have installed on your iPad?
Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there.
Hello! It started happening about three days ago I think.
App version 278.2.2
I'm getting the issue on an iPad pro running the lates OS. On my laptop, it asks if I want to overwrite the existing file, but the iPad doesn't give me this option.
- Megan
Hello guys, happy Monday!
I'd like to know a bit more about your workflow here, please.
How do you open your files? Do you use the Dropbox app, the Files app or maybe opening them directly in Illustrator? Let me know the steps that you take when you save content too.
That can be really helpful, and it'll shine some light on identifying exactly where the issue is located.
- In Numbers in my iPad, I select reading.xlsx….Share….Export….Excel….and then choose Save to Dropbox. I love into Dropbox, it has the folder selected, and I choose Save. At this point, previously, it would ask if I want to overwrite and I would confirm. But now instead, it just saves with a (1) appended, resulting in both the original file and the new (1) version in Dropbox.
- I usually open from Illustrator, then once I’m done editing, I re-export to Dropbox (it’s the same if I open from Files, and Dropbox doesn’t give me the option to open these files directly from Dropbox on my iPad). It used to just overwrite the old file, which is what I need. Now it gives me a new file with (1) on the end.
- Most of my saving is done from Photos, selecting the item and choosing Save to Dropbox. From there it normally would list all the latest folders (no thumbnail preview) and I then save. If there’s an existing version, it prompts if I want to override it (this doesn’t occur now, it just saves and adds a (x) if filename exists).
I’m now six weeks and over 50 emails in to this discussion with the Dropbox team. I’ve had to make so many videos! They still:
- refuse to tell me if this issue is an intentional change or a bug
- ignore every request for a video of them doing the same things they’re asking me to do over and over, so I can at least answer some of my own questions that they won’t answer
- keep giving me instructions that do absolutely nothing
- ignore half the stuff I’ve written to them
Does anyone from the Dropbox team want to discuss this here? Should I open another thread or ticket? I’m going to persist until someone can put even a shred of effort into trying to resolve the issue with me, or give me a straight answer about this change. I refuse to give in to attrition.
PS I’ve tried uploading directly from Dropbox, and exporting from various apps. The same issue occurs everywhere, every which way.
- Don’t expect anything at this point. It’s clear that overwrite is gone (something any file management would have a basic feature, I can’t see either business or individual users being happy with this) and this is the new normal. They continue to mess with the Save interface with you now getting BIG buttons to either Copy link or Show in folder for each and every item you upload. If you have a dozen or more that you need to rename as you upload individually, it’s a major irritant as I don’t want to do either (and I NEVER share links to my stuff). The limited number of recent folders in use is also a pain having to choose a new location more often than I did in the past. In the beginning of the year, it was perfect. Now it’s a disaster and I’m considering evaluating another app after decades of using this. They fixed what was not broken.
Hi, this is also the case for me.
