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Pysio13's avatar
Pysio13
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

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: ...
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  • JasonSilverDBX's avatar
    JasonSilverDBX
    2 years ago
    Thank 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.  
    1. modifying the dl parameter in the URL
    2. 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.
     
ewgibb00's avatar
ewgibb00
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Hello! When I upload a file to dropbox and then copy the link, this string of characters now appears after the .jpg:

?rlkey=0wpyuy3v0c1pufara2weu9jlr&dl=0

which is causing an issue with software that reads these files names (that used to end in .jpg)

 

Is this a new change on Dropbox? I am having trouble figuring out if I can revert back to the file names ending with simply .jpg

 

Thank you!

 

Eric

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    2 years ago

    Hey aashirwad and ewgibb00, I moved your posts to this relevant thread.

     

    I would suggest you take a look at the entire thread and the solution as well, for more info and if you have any more questions, please let us know.

     

    Justin P.2, we understand where you're coming from and we've made sure that your feedback is passed along to our team.

    • Justin P.2's avatar
      Justin P.2
      Collaborator | Level 10
      2 years ago

      Hannah Modifying EVERY link I send out is not a solution. I send out dozens of links every day that I copy from the Mac Finder and paste into an email. 

      For fun, I tried the "solution" to see what it was like but it still gave me the pop-up box in Safari when I tried to download the file.

      This is what we need:

      1) A link that doesn't have a ton of extra characters after the file name

      2) A link that automatically downloads without having to approve EACH FILE. I understand having to approve downloads from Dropbox the first time in Safari but not for EVERY SINGLE FILE.

      Again, my method of changing the 0 to 1 stems from another bad idea that lets users see inside zip files on the Dropbox website. Users get confused by this and start navigating inside the zip file instead of downloading it.

      This recent link change has made Dropbox go from kind of annoying to terrible. 

      Please fix the issue and revert to how it used to work. 

      I don't see anything in the "solution" that is a real solution for people that copy and paste many links each day. 

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