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Forum Discussion
Best way to submit video files
Hi - A business colleage wants a group of people to be able to submit individual video files to her Dropbox. She would prefer to do this without requiring each person to create their own Dropbox acco...
BobGa wrote:
Would your suggestions allow students to see each other's videos? This is what they are trying to avoid.
No. File Requests will not allow anyone except the recipient to see the files uploaded. Not even the uploader will be able to see the file after it has been submitted. Think of it like a drop box (an actual drop box, not the Dropbox service); once you drop something in, you can't see it or access it.
The Dropbox solution seems to involve more steps and therefore more complicated instructions. Or am I missing something?
Submitting a file request is extremely simply. Once your colleague creates the File Request link and sends it to their students, they just click it and submit a file. Here's an example that you can test with if you'd like:
In this example, I've created a file request that has a deadline of January 20th at 11AM EST but will accept late submissions for one extra day. Any submissions received after 11AM tomorrow will be marked as late (this is often useful for teachers/students). Also, please note that this goes to my personal Dropbox so please do not submit anything of a personal or sensitive nature. I would suggest a sample document or an image/video.
Thanks Rich.
In this particular case my colleague is asking high school students to submit short videos for a contest (which they have previously done through writing essays). Would your suggestions allow students to see each other's videos? This is what they are trying to avoid.
I use Dropbox in my office, but for this I'm wondering if We Transfer would make more sense. The instructions would be easier, as the student would just do a quick upload then send an email.
The Dropbox solution seems to involve more steps and therefore more complicated instructions. Or am I missing something?
bg
Rich
Super User II
Super User II
BobGa wrote:
Would your suggestions allow students to see each other's videos? This is what they are trying to avoid.
No. File Requests will not allow anyone except the recipient to see the files uploaded. Not even the uploader will be able to see the file after it has been submitted. Think of it like a drop box (an actual drop box, not the Dropbox service); once you drop something in, you can't see it or access it.
The Dropbox solution seems to involve more steps and therefore more complicated instructions. Or am I missing something?
Submitting a file request is extremely simply. Once your colleague creates the File Request link and sends it to their students, they just click it and submit a file. Here's an example that you can test with if you'd like:
In this example, I've created a file request that has a deadline of January 20th at 11AM EST but will accept late submissions for one extra day. Any submissions received after 11AM tomorrow will be marked as late (this is often useful for teachers/students). Also, please note that this goes to my personal Dropbox so please do not submit anything of a personal or sensitive nature. I would suggest a sample document or an image/video.
Thanks Rich, not as hard as I though. I will pass this information along.
I have been using this feature on my site, but from the feedback people are giving me when they try to send me a video, it fails with an error message about 25% of the time. Are there known isues or circumstances that cause this file request feature to fail?
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Welcome to the Dropbox Community robphat!
Perhaps you could take a look at this article here which explains error messages that can occur when trying to upload to a file request. This should narrow down where the issue is arising.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
It appears the last one is what is happening because the files are under 2GB and I have enough space. I just had the third preson out of 8 get this error:
Error: Something went wrong. Please try sending your files again.
So it's happening almost 50% of the time now. I see the fix is to try another browser or icognito mode, but that's not really an aceptable solution for me. I'd have to add a message to the page I place the drop box file request link on letting people know that if their upload fails to try a different browser or icognito.
But that's a horrible user experience for my audience. Is it possible that the file request feature simply isn't ideal for videos, or that this feaure just isn't a priority for DropBox to ensure it's working properly?
Do I have to upgrade to a paid account for it to work all the time?
Or should a try a different service for this need?
Thanks
