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Forum Discussion
Shared link asks viewers to request access. Why does this happen?
Greetings. I have a shared file set to be viewable by anyone with the link, and I've sent the link to those I want to view the file (see screenshot). However, when they access the link, Dropbox sta...
Hi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
JasonSilverDBX
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
Regarding the issue described in my OP, and on the recommendation of JasonSilverDBX, I contacted Dropbox Support and found an answer to my question. Apparently, since the recent Dropbox update (with the new "rlkey" share links), when you share a file that has restrictions (e.g. downloading disabled) via a link, and the recipient is logged into Dropbox, that recipient does not have access until the person sharing the file approves it. Once the access is approved and the recipient adds it to their Dropbox, that recipient has full access to the file and any restrictions placed on that file are gone. This technically solved my problem, in that if I don't want recipients to have the ability to download shared files, I can inform them to log out of Dropbox before viewing the files (in which case they would view it in their browser as opposed to from their own Dropbox). However, I think this recent update that caused this issue has introduced unnecessary confusion and makes one of the helpful features of Dropbox Essentials more complicated.
