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Forum Discussion
Shared link asks viewers to request access. Why does this happen?
Greetings. I have a shared file set to be viewable by anyone with the link, and I've sent the link to those I want to view the file (see screenshot). However, when they access the link, Dropbox sta...
Hi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
JasonSilverDBX
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
I don't understand why this thread is marked "solved" because I don't see a solution (if there is a solution, please advise and ignore below).
This happened to me today when I needed to get someone documents for an urgent matter. If it says anyone with link can edit, etc., then it should be that way. I had to exit a meeting to investigate and approve. I didn't ask to require approval and didn't want it. My default sharing permissions are "Anyone with Link."
Dropbox documentation states:
- Log in to dropbox.com.
- Hover over the file or folder you’d like to share and click Share.
- Click Copy link.This will copy a link that follows your default link permissions. To change to a different kind of link:
- Follow the steps above.
- Click Manage.
- Select Link for editing or Link for viewing.
- Click Copy link.
It doesn't say anything about "Approval." Approval would be a nice option, but is unacceptable when not disclosed. Does Dropbox not understand that customers rely on the application working as published? Had I not been available to approve, this could have been very bad. This thread is over a year old, and is still a problem with no published solution when Googling for "why does copy Dropbox link require approval" (this thread is the only relevant item returned). Because of this my impression is that contacting support will be a waste of time since you'd obviously publish the solution or fix it if the was a solution. Since there does not appear to be a solution, we now have to look into moving to a different platform that works as published because I don't feel like I can trust Dropbox anymore.
BTW, maybe while you're fixing this, you should also fix your API to restrict to folders/subfolders and not require giving full root access to third parties, rendering it useless. i.e. Can't give my fax service root folder API access to send me faxes.
