We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

Keke3's avatar
Keke3
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago

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?
FAQ
Share
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    7 years ago
    Hey Keke3!
     
    To invite multiple users to a folder or file, you’ll have to enter their email addresses separately. 
     
    If they are getting prompted to sign it, could it be that you’re sending them a shared folder instead of sending them a shared link to the folder?
     
    As Rich also mentions, you can find more info about what a shared link is and how to create it here. 
     
    Let us know of any updates! :grinning:
fcaco's avatar
fcaco
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago

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's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 years ago

    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?

    • fcaco's avatar
      fcaco
      Explorer | Level 4
      2 years ago

      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.

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        2 years ago

        Hi fcaco, currently, there isn't an option to send a shared link to a file or folder directly via the Dropbox site. It would need to be pasted into another document, email or message to be sent manually to another another.

         

        What you created instead when sharing via the site is a shared file, which can only be accessed with a Dropbox account.

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!