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su_su_su's avatar
su_su_su
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Creating shortcuts within a Dropbox folder

Dear Community,   I am working with several other people in a share Dropbox folder, which contains several subfolders. Now I wanted to create a shortcut from one subfolder to another subfolder with...
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  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    7 years ago
    Hey su_su_su, welcome to our community! 

    If you’re attempting to create shortcuts (.lnk files) from within Windows in your local Dropbox folder, this will not work. When you do this, the shortcut will work for you, on your computer, but not for other users whom you are sharing the file with. Dropbox will sync the shortcut as a shortcut file, rather than the file that the shortcut points to, and it is pointing to a location on your computer. 

    We suggest that you remove these .lnk files in order to avoid any confusion. You can identify a shortcut by looking for a small arrow overlaid on the file icon. If Dropbox is running, the Dropbox syncing icon may cover the shortcut icon, so you will need to quit Dropbox temporarily if you want to check on the files you currently have stored in your local Dropbox folder. Alternatively, you can use the Windows search function to search for all .lnk files within your Dropbox folder, and then delete them. 
     
    What you could do is to create a document into which you can paste the addresses of these folders from your browser. As you open each folder location in your account online, copy the address from your browser’s address bar, and paste it into the document. Then, you can save the document as a PDF, and place it in the top level folder, or any other location in your Dropbox. All links will be live, clickable, and will directly take the user to the linked location. This will only work at Dropbox.com, and if you move folders around, the links will break, and you’ll have to modify the original document, and save again as a PDF. 

    Another way to do this would be with Paper. If all your collaborators are using Dropbox Paper, you can create this document here, and just share it to everyone, without needing to save or export it to PDF. Any edits you make to this document will be instantly seen, in real time, by all users, ensuring that all users have the same information. 
    We hope this helps! 

    Walter & Sanchez
Sanchez's avatar
Sanchez
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey su_su_su, welcome to our community! 

If you’re attempting to create shortcuts (.lnk files) from within Windows in your local Dropbox folder, this will not work. When you do this, the shortcut will work for you, on your computer, but not for other users whom you are sharing the file with. Dropbox will sync the shortcut as a shortcut file, rather than the file that the shortcut points to, and it is pointing to a location on your computer. 

We suggest that you remove these .lnk files in order to avoid any confusion. You can identify a shortcut by looking for a small arrow overlaid on the file icon. If Dropbox is running, the Dropbox syncing icon may cover the shortcut icon, so you will need to quit Dropbox temporarily if you want to check on the files you currently have stored in your local Dropbox folder. Alternatively, you can use the Windows search function to search for all .lnk files within your Dropbox folder, and then delete them. 
 
What you could do is to create a document into which you can paste the addresses of these folders from your browser. As you open each folder location in your account online, copy the address from your browser’s address bar, and paste it into the document. Then, you can save the document as a PDF, and place it in the top level folder, or any other location in your Dropbox. All links will be live, clickable, and will directly take the user to the linked location. This will only work at Dropbox.com, and if you move folders around, the links will break, and you’ll have to modify the original document, and save again as a PDF. 

Another way to do this would be with Paper. If all your collaborators are using Dropbox Paper, you can create this document here, and just share it to everyone, without needing to save or export it to PDF. Any edits you make to this document will be instantly seen, in real time, by all users, ensuring that all users have the same information. 
We hope this helps! 

Walter & Sanchez
fbab's avatar
fbab
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

Hi,

Thx for your answer but I don't expect you tell me that I don't need shortcuts. The trick that is proposed can overcome the problem in some situations but not in mine. I do need shortcut that display the file on the local directory of Dropbox.

Regards, Fred.

 

  • limonene's avatar
    limonene
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    Just came to this page after trying to Google the solution, to confirm that this feature should be in the next Dropbox update!

    Shortcuts were designed for an important, time-saving purpose on PCs. Dropbox can't be a cloud-based replacement of that service without it.

     

     Please undo the "Solved" comment on this post. This problem is not solved even after trying the recommendations. Qubit's response is a good workaround, but you should be able to create links that are active even if the file path changes, just like if you link a Dropbox file on other programs.

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