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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: ...
Direct Download on new link architecture is Solved
What is the DL parameter?
- Default link. This will render the content in the Dropbox file viewer.
- 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.
- 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.- 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.
- Works like a ?raw=1 link, but the application or browser will not need to follow an HTTP 302 redirect to access the content.
I have a Dropbox Plus account going pretty far back--I have a \Public folder off the root. I'm not sure what's happened with the Public folder, but I can no longer do what I have in the past. That is, I regularly upload photos to a sub-folder of Public and I used to be able to generate a dropbox link for a photo similar to the following: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xchd31aqqbfizn8/HEIModuleBracket2.JPG?dl=0
I would then create a post on my favorite website (an old PHP-Nuke board) where I am a member (with no control over what happens there), and I could enter that link in a post. To be sure, I needed to modify the link slightly to get it to work. The modified link was: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/xchd31aqqbfizn8/HEIModuleBracket2.JPG
When that link was surrounded by [img]...[/img] tags, the photo would show up in the post for any viewer with or without a dropbox account.
Now, when I upload a photo to dropbox and get a link for it, the link looks like this: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/crv0udpyha55r26fvjsnk/PistonWear.png?rlkey=j9dgg2fgpiiwqy5v2ck4awn4s&dl=0
and I cannot figure out how to edit this link so that it displays in a post on the website.
I am also finding that some of my previously posted photos still generate the simpler URL (without the rlkey parameter), but some of them generate the URL with the rlkey parameter, and I can't predict which I'll get until I try it.
So can someone please explain what is happening here? And, how do I either a) reliably generate an older style URL, or b) modify the newer style URL to work with my website's [img]...[/img] techology?
This feels like a security or permissions issue, but I'm not sure. If this post belongs in another section, would someone please redirect me.
Many thanks,
Peter
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi PGSmick, I've merged you to this thread to keep similar queries together. Please could you try the solutions suggested in the thread to see if they help.
Thank you, Jay, for the merge. This thread does indeed report similar symptoms, and I did see some tantalizing leads. I can't say I fully understand the "accepted solution", but I have tried every permutation of dl= and raw= along with the www.dropbox.com and the two alternate URLs (dl.dropbox.com and dl.dropboxusercontent.com) and none of them work.
I have also tried the suggestions of deleting and re-creating links and these did not help either.
The closest I can come is with these three variations all without specifying the rlkey:
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/crv0udpyha55r26fvjsnk/PistonWear.png[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/crv0udpyha55r26fvjsnk/PistonWear.png[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/crv0udpyha55r26fvjsnk/PistonWear.png[/img]-All three display a generic image icon on my website. None produce the image.
-However, in my browser (Microsoft Edge) I can right click on the first icon and choose Open image in new tab. That will indeed open the file in a new tab, but only if I am logged in to Dropbox elsewhere in the browser. If I am not logged in then I am invited to sign in to view the file.
-Attempting to open the file from the other two icons give me a 403 error suggesting I don't belong there and should head back home.
Clearly these are not useful.
So, despite several reports to the contrary in this thread, for me, the issue is not fixed.
I hope that will change.
Peter
- Jay
Thanks for the info, in order to look into this matter in more detail, would it be possible to reach out to the email associated with your forum profile?
