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
view only link for everyone says Join Folder, Copy to Dropbox, Download. I DON'T want Join Folder.
I create printables I share on Etsy, and because the files are so large, I send a dropbox folder link. It USED to be that the page the link went to would have the choices at top Copy to Dropbox and D...
JasonSilverDBX
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi personanongrata and JuliusIncestus ,
I am a Dropbox Product Manager for our sharing capabilities and am overseeing the introduction of our new shared link architecture. You can read a bit more on the changes to Folder Links with View Only access in this post here. The ability to Join Folder from a shared link is meant to allow for easier collaboration. We did make sure to adjust link settings so you would be able to prevent Join Folder by disabling downloads and folder joins with one simple setting toggle.
Note, only the view link is able to disable download/join. Edit links, by their nature, are meant to allow recipients to collaborate so don't include this setting.
Now two things I see here. First, it looks like you may be intending to create view links instead of edit links? If that's true, then you might want to update your default sharing settings. See this help center article for more details. Second, JuliusIncestus in your case, you want to disable joining, but not downloads. That is not possible right now. I am curious though to hear a bit more about why? Maybe you have a unique (or not-so-unique) situation, or maybe there is a better way to use Dropbox to meet your needs.
The folder is a free book. When someone signs up for my newsletter, I just want them to be able to download the files and not alter or add anything. That's it. Although, I somehow managed to make so that they have to ask my permission to join, so I guess that's something. But I would rather have it removed altogether, since it looks kind of unprofessional.
- JasonSilverDBX
Thanks authorsjuliusincestus for sharing more about your use case. Sharing a view only folder link would only permit a recipient to view content - not edit anything.
However, I can understand for your situation, you want to keep the experience to a one way flow of content delivery to recipients. I'm assuming these are customers or prospects of some sort, so you also want the experience to look polished and professional. You need them to be able to download, but don't want to be bothered with "requests for access". Nor to confuse your intended recipients with multiple options for viewing your content.
If that all sounds right, then I can see why the addition of the "Join Folder" option that came with our introduction of content-based folder links doesn't hit the mark for you. But there are some alternative methods that I think might work better for you.
- Are you familiar with Dropbox Transfer? It may actually suit your purposes better since its intended as a way to deliver work to clients. It even allows for custom logos for a professional look. You can use it to send folders or files with a link.
- If you are only sharing a single file (your ebook), a shared link to the file would only allow view access and recipients would be able to download from a web preview without an account. There is no "join" option.
- A forced download would also be an option. This requires modifying the URL manually - see details here - and recipients wouldn't be taken to a web preview at all. Instead visiting the link would initiate a download.
Hi Sir , sorry but this is really annoying , you guys have totally ruined it and made our life so difficult
i just wanted to know how to create link without join folder option , but support team had no answer and they were not even aware of new changes they clearly need some more training , totally wasted time on chat and didnt even provide any solution
why do we need join folder option on every sharing link ?
if we are collaborating with someone then we will just create shared folder once and continue working from it
and if we are creating new links everyday clearly means we are dealing with new person everyday
before it was good if we wanted to have to join folder option on our link there was specific settings which we had to change , that too were inside not default
please let me know if you guys are planning on reverting this change or at least give option to disable join folder option on every link creation
this is so basic , please listen to customers , they are using your product more than you are on daily basis so they know better which feature should be there and which should not,
please change this
I have to include myself and my team on the list of unhappy Dropbox customers because of this issue. We pay over $500 and I have to spend my time explaining our clients why we don't want them to join the folders.
And now there even is some kind of bug, which doesn't show ANY buttons and clients can't do anything with the links.
When I open the same link in my browser (logged off in incognito mode) it shows buttons. Today a second client sent me a screenshot without buttons, probably both Apple devices.
So I have two requests:
1) Fix the bug
2) Remove the Join folder button for view only links. PLEASE. It doesn't make sense. We want them to view only. Simple as that. Do you have anybody saying they like the feature? It disrupts our workflow,
The auto download parameter doesn't help. It is again pushing client to do something they don't want to.
The Transfer also is not an option for us. In some cases we update folders and having the same link really helps. We just tell the client we made an update and they just refresh. Generating Transfers is an extra step.
- And yes. There used to be a blue button to save data in my own Dropbox. It has been missing for some time now, and I would like to have it back.
Just wanted to jump on this to state we have the same issue as the OP in this thread. The 'Join Folder' option is very irritating for our workflow. We use an app and API to automate out link sharing for folders which we use to share files which are for download ONLY - if Dropbox Transfer was supported by the dbx api, we would use this, but it is not. Considering we pay a pretty hefty sum for Dropbox it is pretty disappointing how little customisation there is available to us for folder link sharing.
