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Forum Discussion
Is it possible to see who created the link?
I gave my former attorney access to my dropbox so they could obtain and send my documents to opposing counsel. My former attorney sent dropbox links to opposing counsel.
I want to find out if these links were to MY dropbox or if the former attorney moved the docs to their dropbox and sent links to THEIR copy. I have the URLs.
I got another attorney and at some point (probably weeks later) deleted the links I created, assuming OC had the docs. Opposing counsel (OC) went to my new attorney and claimed they couldn't open the links and requested the documents all over again. Meanwhile, OC told my former atty the reason they didn't obtain the docs is because they simply delayed in obtaining them.
I was billed almost $3,000 by my new atty for compiling the documents again.
I'm trying to find out if the links my former atty sent were links to MY dropbox documents or if the links were to an account owned by my former atty.
How can I find out if former atty linked to my dropbox or their own?
Many thanks in advance for any help find out whose links were sent. I have a basic account now but I had signed up for DocSend free trial when links were sent.
Here is the troubleshooting I have done:
When I first was told about a problem OC had with the broken links, I tested the links myself. They opened to my dropbox account but broken. It appeared as though it was a browser encoding problem with an ampersand because the links were in a pdf.
At some point after this, the links returned a 404.
It may be those links opened to my dropbox account because I was signed in. Another possibility is that former atty created new links from their dropbox to my docs, but I don't know dropbox well enough to know if this is possible.
I thought about doing a rewind to view my links but wanted to make sure I won't unintentionally short circuit a different way to solve the mystery.
Former attorney has not stated how the links were sent.
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hey TigersW, welcome to our Community!
It's a lot to unpack here, so apologies for my lengthy reply.
Based on all the info you've shared with us; it's indeed possible that your former attorney either created these shared links using your account.
Or they could have downloaded the content, added it to their Dropbox account and then sent it over to the OC.
I'm afraid that we don't have a way of tracking a shared link back to their creator. Especially since they have been deleted ever since.
Now, in regards to the 404 error: Shared links will break if the file has been deleted from Dropbox. They will also break if the creator leaves the folder or if the file is moved. The reason for this is that all shared links are tied to the person who originally created the link.
Which makes it sound like the links were created from your account, because you got the error after the content has been deleted, right? If not, feel free to clarify.
Our Help Center lists a number of other reasons why a shared link may not be working.
I'll be waiting for your reply!
Hey Megan thanks for the reply!
One clarification: I did not delete any content. All docs are currently preserved just as they were.
Looking through my folder activity, there is one event where former atty (FA) created a new folder and began moving docs into it, but then FA deleted that folder in the same session. I have found no other activity by FA in my folder activity.
If FA downloaded or transferred files or folders, would that action be recorded in activity history?
If I can rule out that FA did not obtain a copy of my content, I would have my answer that the links, regardless of who created them, were to my docs in my dropbox. And that answer would be all I need.
