Brother Printer Integration stopped working May 1st, 2024

[DBinBigD]

I have 4 Brother Printers.    3 - MFC - L2750DW   and  1 - MFC - L2740DW  that as of May 1st receive an error when uploading scanned documents to the assigned dropbox folder.   I have created new credentials and everything worked, including picking the dropbox folder.  But still fails at upload.

This worked flawlessly for the past 3 years.   The last time this happened was 2021.

I see another post regarding similar issue happening with Epson printers as well.   It appears the  certificate / token that dropbox issued for this service has expired.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Any work arounds?

[Jay]

Hi @DBinBigD, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

As this appears to be related to a third party app or service, I'd recommend first checking with Epson for them to see if they have any information on this matter.

Keep me posted.

[DBinBigD]

Hi Jay,

I appreciate the thoughtful response.  And I know I mentioned Epson but my post, including the title was about Brother Web Connect Integration.

I apologize if you are an unpaid volunteer working on this site, and not a Dropbox employee. If you are a volunteer, please forgive the rest of this note it is based on the assumption that you are in an official support role.

Jay, you seem knowledgeable, so would really like your opinion on this.

On May 1st all my Brother Printers Dropbox Upload integration quit working with Dropbox.

Around May 1st several other people (not me mind you); that own Epson printers are having the exact same issue.

Here is where I need your help.  What do both of these problems have in common?

What are the odds that two completely different Printer Companies both did something on their side the same day that would make you think it is a "third party problem", definitely not a Drop box problem, nothing to see here, move along....

Again, you are the expert, but I think your initial response was a pretty easy knee jerk one to make. It would be great if you and Dropbox had nothing to do with this and would not need to spend any time looking into or resolving it.  Just a simple 'Not my problem" 

But would be wonderful if you would either spend a little time reflecting on it, or possibly escalate the question up a level or two so it can at least be giving serious consideration.

The integration with MS OneDrive still works.  If I am having this problem with Drop Box, there are countless others having the same issue. All you have to do is read the recent posts here.

But it sounds like you prefer this headline on the Tech Journals.   Dropbox Drops Ball on Integration. National outage impacts 10,000s of users across several different hardware integration solutions including all Epson and Brother's products.

Recent post on their forum from Jay, the Support Expert, states they are not interested in solution. Jay says its Brother Printers and Epson's problem to deal with.

Please tell me this is not the official Dropbox perspective.

[Mark]

@DBinBigD Jay is an official Dropbox representative. However, the issue remains that, unfortunately, it is up to Brother (and other suppliers) to update API keys, etc. if they expire or are out of date. 

It sounds like the software link they are using has expired. An update/upgrade to the software / firmware may work

[DBinBigD]

Thank you, I am doing my best to blast Brother too.  And having about the same level of success.

The problem is I am dealing with the lowest level of support there is. And what needs to happen is technically knowledgeable people on both sides need to #1) Be aware there is a problem  and then #2) collaborate to resolve.   But the low level support at both companies immediately dismiss the issue as soon as they realize that they can blame someone else.  It just needs to be escalated to a high enough level, that someone that knows what is going on, can call their counterpart and resolve it.   

[Mark]

The issue though is that as the issue is with Brothers software Dropbox cannot solve that. They cannot change the scripts etc. that they use. 

The can, and do, offer plenty of support if they want it via the API Team - which they'll have access to already. BUT they need to do it. 

[Mark]

I've just done a quick search and Brother have released a recent update for some of the printers in April. Have you installed that? https://www.brother.co.uk/support/mfc-l2750dw/downloads

They also released new firmware in April.

[DBinBigD]

Thank you.  That was a great suggestion. I should have thought of that myself.  It took awhile to get the firm ware completely up to date.  For the MFC - L2740DW, the most recent is 1.06 from Sept '23.    Unfortunately updating the firmware did not fix the problem.

[FredLyon]

Same problem here. A partial workaround I found is to scan to PDF with OCR, but it's slower. May give a clue to troubleshooters. The problem still needs to be resolved though.

[rsr0813]

I also have the same problem. I have two printer/scaners connected to Dropbox from different locations. Both are not working.

I recommend the following:
a) It's in the best interest of Dropbox to engage directly with Epson and Brother to resolve this integration issue. Given that multiple users are experiencing similar problems with Dropbox integration across different printer brands, collaboration between Dropbox and these companies would likely lead to a faster and more effective solution.

b) As a workaround, I've successfully resolved the issue by utilizing ONEDRIVE and GOOGLE DRIVE to open folders, which have been functioning smoothly for me.

c) I look forward to hearing from Dropbox as soon as this issue is resolved. It's important for users to stay updated on progress and eventual solutions to ensure a seamless printing and file management experience.