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
Pysio13
2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Shared Link / "scl" to "s"
Hello. My question concerns my recent issue with file sharing. Usually, my links were generated in this way: 'https://www.dropbox.com/s/'. However, lately, every file is being generated in this way: ...
- 2 years agoThank you BenDBX for splitting off a new thread specific to the 3rd party integrations issue, and especially for doing it in a way that migrates all the relevant posts to date! To properly wrap up this thread, below is a summary.
Why the new "/scl" link format?Dropbox is moving to an updated shared link architecture where links are based on the content being shared rather than on the user doing the sharing. This new content-based link architecture is already in place for edit access links to folders and newly created links to files, and can be identified by the presence of an ‘rlkey’ parameter in the URL. (They also begin with "/scl" instead of the previous architecture's "/s".) It is the rlkey parameter which grants access to the content. That is why removing that parameter results in visitors having to sign in and request access. I talk more about this transition in this forum thread.Over the next few months, we’ll round out the shared link portfolio by bringing this new architecture to newly created view-only access folder links, or view folder links for short.Direct Download on new link architecture is Solved
Regarding this thread on “direct / forced” download not working on new links, this should be solved since a fix was implemented 2 weeks ago. That is, all new links should now function the same as legacy links for these purposes. This can be accomplished in two ways.- modifying the dl parameter in the URL
- modifying using dl.dropbox.com or dl.dropboxusercontent.com.
👉 In both cases you must retain the rlkey parameter for the URL to grant your recipients permission rights to access your file.
What is the DL parameter?
Anything following the ? in a URL are query parameters. It’s worth reemphasizing that dl parameter in new links did not break and will continue to function identically to those in legacy links. Manually changing the dl parameter does the following:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=0
- Default link. This will render the content in the Dropbox file viewer.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=1
- Downloads the content of the link (if the user has access to the content based on link settings). This query parameter takes precedence even if raw=1 is also added.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&raw=1
- Directly renders the content in the browser (if the link has a public audience and no other restrictions). Note that this link has an HTTP 302 redirect, so the application or browser must be able to follow the redirect.
What are the dl.dropbox... modifications?
These are link transformations from the early days of Dropbox. While we don't "officially" list these anymore in our Help Center, we are continuing to support them for now.https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=0- Replacing www with dl works exactly like a ?raw=1 link: this will directly render content for public links in the browser. It requires following an HTTP 302 redirect.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=0- Works like a ?raw=1 link, but the application or browser will not need to follow an HTTP 302 redirect to access the content.
dunghv26
Explorer | Level 4
Please also fix for .zip file type, it had worked fine for /s/ link
matthewdbx
2 years agoDropbox Staff
Hi everyone,
As an update on the dropboxusercontent issue, the fix is now available. For your shared links that look like "www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/...", you should now be able to generate a direct download of the content using either "dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/..." or "dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/..."
Thanks again for the feedback in this post!
- Здравко2 years agoLegendary | Level 20
matthewdbx wrote:..., you should now be able to generate a direct download of the content using either "dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/..." or ...
No exactly. The link isn't direct yet; there is still one redirection! One is less than two, but... redirection is still needed. 👈
- bleach hawk2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Hi, I can confirm that replacing the domain with dl.dropbox.com or dl.dropboxusercontent.com does not (yet?) work for me (.png files).
- stiletto22 years agoHelpful | Level 6
I can confirm that both the "dl.dropbox.com/....." and the "dl.dropboxusercontent.com/...." method work great for me using .jpg file. Thanks for the quick work on getting a fix out!
- stiletto22 years agoHelpful | Level 6
I can also confirm that both the "dl.dropbox.com/....." and the "dl.dropboxusercontent.com/...." method work for me using .png files that have the new "/scl/" style link. The modified links, once again, work just like the old "dl.dropboxusercontent" method worked on the old "/s/" style links.
- ramonB2 years agoHelpful | Level 5
.mp3 audio files also working by changing "www." by "dl." and adding all the link code. Solved
- vint292 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Hi Dropbox Team,
When we generate the share URL using Dropbox SDK (objective-c) that share URL is still not accessible via dl.dropbox.com or dl.dropboxusercontent.com. Previously share URL generated using Dropbox SDK was accessible via dl.dropbox.com. However when we generate the URL for the same file from dropbox.com then it is accessible via dl.dropbox.com.
- dunghv262 years agoExplorer | Level 4
.zip file still doesn't work
- bleach hawk2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Now dl.dropboxusercontent.com is working for my .png files as well, I had to delete and generate new share links.
- phadron2 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Hi,
Is it the token "yyyyyy.." a secret?
Or can I include it when I have to use the image on [IMG] .. [/IMG] tags on various forums?
Thanks!
- kstory2 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Hi Matthew. This is great as a temporary fix but what is the long term solution? We attach urls for art files that go with orders to our print vendors. Asking them to manually change each link every time is not a good permanent solution. Please tell me you are working on a solution that creates a link to a direct download (like it did before)? If not, I am going to ask the integration platform I use (Order Desk) to discontinue Dropbox and use a different file sharing service. This has interrupted our order flow, causing late orders, lost productivity, and unhappy customers.
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