is it safe and secure to share a folder with someone by email on dropbox?

[jah000]

is it safe and secure to share a folder by email using dropbox?

[Mark · Accepted solution]

Hi @jah000

Good question 🙂

The answer is yes - because that person will need to log in (or already be logged in) to access the share via the link. If somebody did intercept it and click on teh link even if they've a Dropbox account themsleves it wouldnt work since the link was sent to a diff email. 

[Arjb]

Mark, can you please expand on your answer. The Dropbox instructions for sharing folders says: "You can share folders and files in your Dropbox account with anyone (even if they don’t have a Dropbox account). " The wording in parentheses implies that one doesn't need a Dropbox account to access a shared folder. So how does someone access the shared folder in that case after receiving the email? Your answer seems to be saying they cannot.

I'm actually trying to confirm what the original poster asked as regards security of the shared folder - making sure that if a bad actor intercepts the email, they won't be able to access my shared folder. Your answer was comforting but i'm having trouble making that correspond with the quoted instructions.

[Daphne]

Hey there @Arjb,

If the recipient you want to share with doesn’t have a Dropbox account then you would need to share the folder via a shared link instead of by adding the email address to the folder. 

With a shared link, you can give only viewing access to the content you share, but the recipient of the link doesn’t need a Dropbox account to open the link. 

Hope this helps to clarify the matter - Thanks!

[usarocks]

Just to also confirm, they ONLY have access to that folder and not to the rest of the your DB files? I would hate to have my folders hacked.

[Daphne]

Hey @usarocks,

That's right indeed! The recipient will only have access to the folder that you share and it's contents, or a file if you want to share only individual files instead of a folder. Nothing outside of what you share will be accessible via a shared link. 

I hope that helps - Cheers!