You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

Drykon's avatar
Drykon
New member | Level 1
2 months ago

"That didn't work for some reason" error; I can't open my shared link.

I have a shared link to a gaming document that I've been using for a while. However, every time I've tried to use the link over the pass couple of days, I get the message shown below.

I've refreshed the page, used different browsers, cleared my cache, but nothing seems to work. I've had others test the link and they've been able to use it just fine, so I don't believe the document has been delete. Does anyone know how I might be able to access it again?

Error Messages
Shared Links
Web
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    2 months ago

    No. If the permissions changed on the file then only the owner can fix it.

    Before I removed the link from your post I tested it myself, and while I didn't get the "This didn't work ..." error that you're getting, it did prompt me to sign in to an account to verify my access.

    Only the owner will be able to resolve this for you. I would suggest leaving a reply on the forum where you found the file and maybe the owner will see it.

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 months ago

    Hey Drykon! Welcome to our forum. 

    The shared link is throwing the same error on an incognito window, as well, right? Do you have any other links that have the same issue, or is it the only one?

    Other than that, I’d suggest checking with the owner of the link (in case that’s possible), just to make sure they haven’t made any changes on their end that could’ve affected it. 

    Let me know what you find and we’ll go from there.

    • Drykon's avatar
      Drykon
      New member | Level 1
      2 months ago

      Hi Nancy. Yes, the error message occurs in an incognito window and on other links. Unforutately, I'm not able to get in contact with the owner of the link as I do not have their contact information.

      Mark as Solution

      Like

      • Megan's avatar
        Megan
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        2 months ago

        Hey Drykon, Is it possible that they are sending you a shared folder or an editing link, instead of a link with "view only" permissions?

        I'm asking, because we had a similar case in this thread, and that seemed to be the cause.

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!