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.
Currently, when I send a client a link to download a file using the Dropbox share file functionality, they are directed to a preview page. When they click the Download button, they are presented with a dialog box prompting them to sign in or sign up for Dropbox. At the bottom of this dialog box, in text that more closely resembles a legal disclaimer, they are given the option to download without signing up.
As a paid user, I cannot entertain this dark UI feature. If I need to provide clients with an instruction manual on how to work around a dark UI feature, then it makes me look really cheap and really hacky.
Not only does it make me look bad, but it's also a really nasty look for the Dropbox brand.
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi jaycub, thanks for messaging the Community.
Have you tried these steps to allow shared links to be downloaded automatically when a user clicks on the link?
Would this satisfy your requirements?
Jay, I don't think this is a suitable solution. For one, most of the time I am sending a link to a video, so forcing download would mean the client does not get the benefit of the video preview in the dropbox player. Secondly, these video files can be very large. I wouldn't want to forcebomb a 50gb file onto someone computer from an email link (and to that effect, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to see file size on the preview page.
All to say, for me to implement this solution, or to continue with the current solution I need to send clients an instruction manual on how to work around these various solutions. We live in a world where we have figured out how to implement intuitive UX/UI to offer users a seamless experience. I am taking a hard stance that as a paid user, I should not have to deliver work with an instruction manual about how to thwart or work around a premium service that at its core is designed to share files.
This UX practice is reflecting poorly on both Dropbox and myself, and it is unacceptable.
