We're making changes to the Community, so you may have received some notifications - thanks for your patience and welcome back. Learn more here.
Forum Discussion
Sharing a File With Someone Who Doesn't Have Dropbox Installed
I'd like to send a link to share a file with a customer without requiring them to login to Dropbox. Is that possible?
- Rich
Super User II
Yes, it is. Just send them a share link to the file. A share link provides view and download access without requiring a Dropbox account.
I am trying to figure this out as well. How does one send a link or share a folder with someone who does not have dropbox?
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Have you tried any of the ways mentioned in this discussion lola8?
Specifically, shared links would be the way to go in your case.
- When I have shared a folder, does my family member need to create a personal account with Dropbox in order to view my shared folder. Can someone explain to me how my family are able to view? Thanks for your help
- Rich
Jtavernor wrote:
When I have shared a folder, does my family member need to create a personal account with Dropbox in order to view my shared folder. Can someone explain to me how my family are able to view? Thanks for your helpIf they only need to be able to view, you'll want to use a shared link with view-only access. If you actually invite them to a shared folder or send a shared link with edit access, they'll need their own Dropbox account with enough storage to hold the folder.
- Mark
Hi Jtavernor
Do they just need to view it? If so why not use a shared link? https://help.dropbox.com/share/create-and-share-link
- To use the link they would need the Dropbox app? If they don't have the app, can they just create a Dropbox account with the same email address that I used to share that folder?
I've tried to share a file with a person using the link (read only) option but it just doesn't seem to work. I feel so dumb as the instructions are very clear! Any thoughts? And also, if I share with a person and they don't have dropbox, do they have to get dropbox to be able to view the file? Thanks for any help.
- Hannah
Hey fcaco, thanks for reaching out to us!
You can definitely share files with people who don't have a Dropbox account; through a 'view-only' shared link.
Can you let us know more about why it's not working for you?
Thanks, Hannah. My goal is to be able to give visual access only to some dropbox files occasionally. When I follow the instructions I copy the link to a dropbox file and I understand it then sits on my computer clipboard. From experimentation I learn I then have to leave dropbox and open my gmail account, address the email to my intended recipient, click the paste command in the message part of the email and voila the view-only access link is sent. So far okay, but then when the recipient receives the email the SENDER is listed as me, personally, not my non-profit group who has the dropbox account. To remedy this I went back to see if I could "share" the link directly from dropbox to my recipient without having to go into my personal email account. When I do that it does indeed share the link BUT it's requiring the recipient to have a dropbox account of their own to view it.
I would like to know if there is a way to send the link to a file from the dropdown box in dropbox so that I don't need to leave dropbox and go to my personal email to send it.
Dear community,
I want to share my photo folder with friends. Some have Dropbox, some don't. If they use the link they get the question "Get member of map" or "Look for example of this map". In the first option they get a copy in their Dropbox. That I don't want and also the friends don't want that, because it takes space of their Dropbox volume.
The second case is perfect. However is it possible that my friends immediately go to the example option without receiving the choice of the two options?
Kind regards, John
- Hannah
Hey JohnDeLange, it sounds like you're sending your recipients a "can edit" link, instead of a "can view" one.
Make sure to use these steps and your recipients should be able to access the folder without being asked to join.
Hi Hannah,
thank you for your reaction. I had used a "can view" link. To be sure I tried it again. The effect for the recipient remains the same. He has to make a choice instead of viewing the photo overview immediately. Do you have any other option?
Kind regards, John
