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I'd like to know why the whole system of sharing has been removed with the introduction of Dropbox Backup.
My workflow has completely been destroyed.
Previously (Before Monterey and Dropbox Backup) I could share all folders directly from my Documents to clients. I have had this workflow in place for a year or so now. Now I'm hearing that this has been completely removed. I can't even access the folders in my browser because it keeps switching over to Dropbox Backup instead of the regular Dropbox site.
From what I read if I want it to work as before I need to create a new folder inside my Dropbox folder instead of in the Folder that is connected to Backup. This would mean I have to duplicate every folder on my drive instead of just being able to share directly.
This was working perfectly for over a year to just turn off this feature without notifying anyone is crazy. I literally can't work right not.
There are folders on my drive that are shared and I can't access basic sharing features because dropbox won't even allow me to access them in the regular Dropbox browser client.
I hope this can be resolved urgently otherwise I will have to look into a new provider for my cloud-based storage.
Hey @euanburton, thanks for reaching out to our Community.
It is not possible to share backed up files any more, to ensure the security of your files, as a lot of people have very personal files saved to their desktop folders.
I do understand your frustration with this, though, and I will definitely pass your comments along to our team.
Your feedback is very valuable and rest assured that it will be delivered.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Hi Euan
I have exactly the same issue and posted the same problem the other day and feel exactly the same as you. It has destroyed my workflow and the only answers I get are 'oh well...' I don't know why they have removed this feature and also that we didn't have a choice and weren't informed. I have asked if the developers can re-instate this and hopefully they can/will.
I hope they fix this soon as Dropbox has become a useless service overnight for me
all my best
Dan
I am a long-time DB user and I completely agree with the other posters in this thread.
The way backup used to work was perfect for me. I would (many times in a day) share any file on my machine by right-clicking and sending along to clients, colleagues, etc. The added step of duplicating files into the DB folder feels like backwards progress in the product.
It seems like this could be resolved by simply allowing a DB user to choose whether they'd like everything in their backup to be shareable, or if the user would like to turn that feature off for added privacy.
Side note on this: I contacted support about this issue because I thought there might be a problem with my machine. (Ticket #16457278) The customer service agent didn't identify the new behavior as a result of the new feature introduced around 4/19/22, and led me down a series of intricate instructions that involved steps in OSX Terminal. I'm glad that I didn't follow through on those instructions and decided to look into it further (I determined that there's nothing wrong with my machine or my dropbox install, and this is just an unfortunate new "feature.")
Anyway, I hope you might solve this with a simple on-off toggle for us in the settings. It seems that some of us are using backup not only for backup purposes, but also for seamless, global file sharing right from the finder, and that should be acknowledged as a great use case for your product. Thank you for listening and I continue to be a loyal DB user 🙂
I couldn't agree more, this was a very bad move. As far as I can tell I can no longer share anything on my hard drive now.
Please change this back!
Ya, this is a real workflow killer for Dropbox.
I have exactly the same problem - it's infuriating. Thanks for explaining why it's happened I was completely gaslit by the support chat as though it was perfectly normal and I just hadn't understood what a back up folder was
Hi
I had exactly the same problem but it has been fixed (v154.4.5363 - OSX) and I can now share my files as used to using the 'Send a Copy' feature which has also had a couple of enhancements. I was very very frustrated that this was taken away but it seems to have been put back (and hopefully permanently) and I can use dropbox as I was before. I am very glad this was done.... (is it working for everyone else?)
best regards
Dan
This is dumb that you can no longer share folders within "Documents" (osx). Please bring this function back!!!
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