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Forum Discussion
view only link for everyone says Join Folder, Copy to Dropbox, Download. I DON'T want Join Folder.
I create printables I share on Etsy, and because the files are so large, I send a dropbox folder link. It USED to be that the page the link went to would have the choices at top Copy to Dropbox and D...
JasonSilverDBX
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi Fairsarae,
I am a Product Manager for Sharing here at Dropbox, and I'm sorry the recent change we've made to Folder Links with View Only access have been driving you crazy! This is certainly not what we intended. There is another recent forum post where I address this in a bit more detail, along with a suggestion involving Dropbox Transfer.
Jay could we consolidate this thread with this other one in progress here?
Fairsarae take a look at my latest response there and let me know your thoughts?
- I think this change makes it very confusing for the recipient of the link. I have never had this issue until the past month. Now I keep getting emails that so and so wants to join your folder. For how Dropbox has it set up now, it makes the recipient think they have join the folder in order to get the file(s), but really they don't have to if they just want to download the files. Maybe Dropbox needs to make it more clear that joining a folder is just an option and not mandatory.
- Janice259, exactly. I’m so confused on the other ways suggested too; I just want to be able to grab the Dropbox link from the folder and go. I’m thinking maybe putting in large capital letters on the link download page IGNORE JOIN FOLDER. My workflow was so efficient before this change.
Exactly. Now when the person clicks on the link, the "Join Folder" is highlighted in blue and it tricks them into thinking they have to join the folder in order to get the file, when all they need to do it is download it.
I wish Dropbox would make a change to this as I am tired of getting "requests to join my folder" emails!
I have a newsletter and when they sign up, they are being led to a dropbox folder. I want them to be able to download, but I don't like that the join folder option is there, even if they cannot join. I can't figure out a way to remove that option though. How do I remove it? I did it with another pen name I have, but I don't remember what I did exactly.
As you can see above, when I set a link for viewing a folder for my Patreon members, I am presented with these boxes above; how do I go about removing the 'Join Folder' box? I've verified in the folder settings that the link is view-only, with no link for editing. I don't recall this happening until this month.
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi JuliusIncestus, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
When you created the shared link, what this an edit link or a read-only link?
This will help me to assist further!
I believe it was an edit link. Is there any way to confirm this?
- JasonSilverDBX
Hi personanongrata and JuliusIncestus ,
I am a Dropbox Product Manager for our sharing capabilities and am overseeing the introduction of our new shared link architecture. You can read a bit more on the changes to Folder Links with View Only access in this post here. The ability to Join Folder from a shared link is meant to allow for easier collaboration. We did make sure to adjust link settings so you would be able to prevent Join Folder by disabling downloads and folder joins with one simple setting toggle.
Note, only the view link is able to disable download/join. Edit links, by their nature, are meant to allow recipients to collaborate so don't include this setting.
Now two things I see here. First, it looks like you may be intending to create view links instead of edit links? If that's true, then you might want to update your default sharing settings. See this help center article for more details. Second, JuliusIncestus in your case, you want to disable joining, but not downloads. That is not possible right now. I am curious though to hear a bit more about why? Maybe you have a unique (or not-so-unique) situation, or maybe there is a better way to use Dropbox to meet your needs.The folder is a free book. When someone signs up for my newsletter, I just want them to be able to download the files and not alter or add anything. That's it. Although, I somehow managed to make so that they have to ask my permission to join, so I guess that's something. But I would rather have it removed altogether, since it looks kind of unprofessional.
So what you're saying is that there is no way to remove the Join Folder option now? You suggest Dropbox Transfer, but that's an additional charge? I already pay $31.98/month.
- JasonSilverDBX
Fairsarae, no I wouldn't suggest that a change we made to shared links should push you into an upsell. Definitely not the intention at all. I believe since you're on a paid plan, you should have unlimited to file transfers up to 2GB included in your plan. If that's not the case, then I need to do better at my internal pricing research. Additionally, I added a few other alternative methods after my original reply to you in my post above.
I just want to chime in on this as I use Dropbox for the same reason, and the new change is very annoying. Products that I have sold in the past are linked to specific URLs with hundreds of digital products connected to them, and if I have to change these URLs, customers will not be able to access their downloads because they have no way of knowing the new URL. Simply giving us an option to not include the "Join Folder" button is ideal. This new change makes Dropbox an inferior solution for Etsy unless there is a way to remove "Join Folder." Thanks!
So #2 of the options-- does that refer to Transfer, or the regular dropbox folder? There is no way to get view only without Join Folder.
