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

wuthelotus's avatar
wuthelotus
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

Backed up files/folders can no longer be shared

Hi, I'm using Dropbox on a Mac with Monterey. I have everything backed up to Dropbox & until today I was able to share files & folders simply by clicking on "copy Dropbox link". Today this feature...
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Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
3 years ago

Hey wuthelotus, thanks for letting us know about this. 

 

Can you please send me a couple of screenshots, so I can look into this?

 

One from the right click options of a backed up file in the Dropbox folder and one from the options online.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

  • wuthelotus's avatar
    wuthelotus
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Hi Hannah,

     

    Thanks for responding. Here are the screenshots you requested.

     

     

    Things I've tried, with no success:

     

    - restarting Dropbox

    - restarting Finder

    - restarting the computer

    - restarting the computer in Safe Mode

     

    Alina

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

      Hi wuthelotus, thanks for the screenshots.

       

      Currently, it isn't possible to share files or folders in a backup, for your own security and privacy. 

       

      If you want to share files, you'll need to move or copy them to a folder outside of the Backup elsewhere on your Dropbox account.

      • wuthelotus's avatar
        wuthelotus
        Helpful | Level 6
        3 years ago
        Hi Jay,
         
        What I don’t understand is why this option, which you say is impossible to have for backed up files & folders, was working just fine until literally yesterday & is still working for other people I know who use Dropbox. The only explanation I can come up with is that this is a new feature that has somehow become functional for me before other users. If so, I can’t understand why you wouldn’t announce such a massive change, in any way whatsoever, to your paying customers. It’s an important change and, for me personally, a dealbreaker. The main reason I chose Dropbox over other similar services was that I could keep my files & folders in their native locations (Documents, Downloads etc.) & they would still be synced up with Dropbox & accessible on all my devices. I have no interest in keeping everything I work on in a generic Dropbox folder, I want to use the document structure of my computer. Which, I repeat, I was able to do until yesterday.
         
        I would like to understand when this change has been made & if there are any plans to reenable sharing for files & folders set up via backup. If not, I will reconsider my Dropbox subscription.
         
        Thank you.
         
        Alina

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