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

Charlie B-AU's avatar
Charlie B-AU
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago

How to automatically overwrite files with the same name

Hi team,   I used to use Dropbox to organise current files against old versions by continuously overwriting the original version when uploaded to Dropbox.    So version 1 would be replaced by...
Desktop
Edit
Organize
Web
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    3 years ago

    Hi Nic35, the email to Dropbox feature wouldn't overwrite the existing files for security purposes. Only uploading files directly via the site, or overwriting files in the Dropbox folder would allow for files to be overwritten.

Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

Hey Charlie B-AU, welcome to our Community.

 

When adding a file through the desktop app to a location where another file with the same name exists, the above behavior is expected.

 

But if you do this using the Dropbox website, the new file should overwrite the old one.

 

I've just tested this out on my end and it works, so would you mind sending over a quick screen recording of your experience?

 

Or perhaps a series of screenshots showing the behavior you see on your end.

 

Thanks!

Charlie B-AU's avatar
Charlie B-AU
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago

Thanks for the welcome & speedy response Hannah!

 

Very sorry, I just realised I missed a key piece of information!

 

I am using an automated FTP feed to email the report through to the folder. The manual upload worked as I would like, with it overwriting the original file.


However, the automated email feed does not replicate this unfortunately.

 

Any idea?


Cheers,

Charlie

 

 

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    3 years ago

    Thanks for the update here, Charlie!

     

    Would you mind giving us a bit more info on how you're doing this with an automated email feed? 

     

    Are you using the Dropbox API?

     

    Any additional info will be helpful.

    • Nic35's avatar
      Nic35
      New member | Level 2
      3 years ago

      Hannah, 
      I had the same question and was surprised to see this in the forum. I'm experiencing the same issue as the OP stated - so hopefully it will expedite a answer for both of us. When using the [Email to Dropbox] feature under settings where it takes the email attachments and places it in the "Email Attachments" folder - its not overwriting the name, instead its appending (1) and so on. Is it possible to overwrite the name automatically or an automation process we can add to have the same desired effect? 

       

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        3 years ago

        Hi Nic35, the email to Dropbox feature wouldn't overwrite the existing files for security purposes. Only uploading files directly via the site, or overwriting files in the Dropbox folder would allow for files to be overwritten.

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support 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!