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Forum Discussion
Ipad and Iphone viewing of long file names
Our company is having the issue that on the mobile app (using the ipad or iphone) often times the file name is too long to properly view what we are opening. I want to be able to read the entire file name so I know what i am opening since many of the beginning and last parts of the file are exactly the same for filing purposes so I want to be able to view the file name without having to open each one in order to find out. I'm hoping I make sense. Is there something I'm missing where I'm able to do this? I can't "right click" on the file name cause I'm mobile otherwise I would try that 🙂
Well, bugger me, Dropbox has finally fixed this with the latest update. I thought to re-check this today after the latest change, and straight away could see the filenames are displayed differently. The font is smaller, and the filename is truncated in the middle, so I can read the start of the file name, but also the end which is (with my file-naming convention), typically the differentiator. But the kicker is what happens with the display pane. It is now possible to close that — there’s a small “x” in the top left corner of the display/preview pane — and once that closes, the left pane with the file names expands to full screen view! And voila! I can now see the full long file names. Dropbox: THAT is the way to take advantage of the larger screen on an iPad, especially the 12.9” model. I’m still annoyed it took so long to remedy, but thank you for finally doing it.
Marie, any progress on this? Your team needs to make the sidebar text smaller, or even better show a full screen which is what we see on our computers.
This is a serious issue as far as diminishing the usability of Dropbox and should have a high priority for getting fixed!
- Rich
Super User II
Is there something I'm missing where I'm able to do this?Nope, you're not missing anything. That's how it is and there's nothing that can be done about it. It has been a problem for some time now.
Marie, as stated above numerous times the drop down menu is useless when you need to quickly view 100 files and find the right one. We know it's there now get on to actually coming out with a version that actually fixes this problem!!!! Or our business too will be forced to change to another cloud!!'
Completely agree Elizabeth E...this is a HUGE problem for our company. We have people in company spending hourse renaming files simply so they can be used in the field properly on the ipad.
Clicking on arrows next to every file name is not a good solution! This is very time consuming and frustrating. Sometimes I switch to my android phone just so I can hold it in landscape and actually read the file names. Drop box is now almost unusable on my iPad. Please give us a full width list view.
No ability to read complete file names with ipad is a huge dysfunction and has been for years. It's so wrong that it's almost as if no decison-maker at DB has ever looked with his or her own eyes at listing of multiple file names on an Ipad. Their solution - to look at the details of every single file just to get at the name, even when that list may be dozens or hundreds of files long - is so out-of-touch with the real world that it just boggles the mind. These kids coding away in their cublicles seem to have no concept of business requirements in the real world. It's crazy, considering how good Dropbox is in most other ways. This issue has been raised again and again for years and years, and despite happy assurances that it will get addressed, it never has and almost certainly never will. DB rarely listened to customer feedback in the early days, and now, as a behemoth, it never does. So either learn to live with it, or move on to an alternate cloud solution that addresses this need. There are quite a few.
Bruce, yes this is a little better and we are using it. But really the half and half screen doesn't really accomplish anything, as the right hand document remains the same as we scroll through files on the left. What was the benefit intended from having a split screen? The full screen list of file names works great on the computer, and would work great for iPads and iPhones. Don't you think? Also, once we click to open a document we have to click again to get rid of the left pane and open up full document view. And who wants to click down a loooong list of file names one at a time to find the right document? Other than that, Dropbox is just fabulous and don't know how I lived without it! ;^)
Wow, Dropbox is losing $7000/year of business because of this problem?
Hey, yoo hoo Dropbox staff! (Yes, you) 🙂
I want to remind multiple different bug-reporters here are paying users that pay hundreds or thousands dollars. We aren't "Free Dropbox Whiners".
A suggested easy fix (mockup screenshot): http://i.imgur.com/BAULGXQ.jpg
...Dropbox Employees: You're doing a good job, but please remind managers of this thread and show them the image.
...Dropbox Management: Please highlight this at future meetings.
...Dropbox Investors: Why is Dropbox leaving money on the table? This is a warning canary for investors/IPO if Dropbox is unable to quickly fix easy low-lying apples like these in less than 12 months.
...Dropbox Human Resources: You need resources to fix "low lying apple bugs".
...Dropbox Ticket Triage: I realize you're trying to do a business case for "which bugs has the most upvotes". Yes, I know you're worried about the urgent bugfixes and critical security holes. But why not have one developer resource solely focussed on "Low Lying Apple" fixes like these to "Keep The Cash Flowing"?? Sometimes specific bugs are so hard to describe (yet are easy to fix -- I am an XCode Developer and I can tell you that this bugfix would take only 4 hours to do -- that's less than $200 of developer time -- and even for expensive QA on all iPads in existence, it would still be less than $500 of QA testing time).This bug has many separate reports by different people (other than me):
iPad Long Filename Feedback (example 1)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/202197529-Ipad-and-Iphone-viewing-of-long-file-namesiPad Long Filename Feedback (example 2)
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2293199iPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 3)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/203317409-Ipad-app-file-namesiPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 4)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/203977145-Truncated-file-names-In-iOS-appsiPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 5)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/201674909-iPad-app-questioniPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 6)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/es/community/posts/202139715--iPad-Mini-How-can-I-change-the-width-of-the-file-menu-so-filenames-become-easier-to-readiPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 7)
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/pt/community/posts/202253959-How-can-I-check-the-full-filenames-in-dropbox-for-iosiPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 😎
https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/pt/community/posts/203738293-How-do-I-view-long-Dropbox-file-names-on-Dropbox-website-iPad-and-iPhoneiPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 9)
https://www.reddit.com/r/dropbox/comments/2jq0kd/is_it_possible_to_see_full_file_names_in_ipad_app/iPad Long Filename Feedback (exhibit 10)
http://www.ipadforums.net/threads/dropbox-abbreviated-filenames.88659/...and more I've not listed. I've only listed 10 for brevity.
If all of this was a SINGLE thread, there would be HUNDREDS of upvotes.REASON: Why are there many threads?
They are hard to do one search term for, because of different terms like "long filenames ipad", "truncated names iPad", "cut off names", "files chopped off" and other names that are completely independent searches. So it is hard for people to find these and upvote them.A suggested easy fix (mockup screenshot): http://i.imgur.com/BAULGXQ.jpg
I can not see all my long name file. It is a reason not use Dropbox. I have to open each file to see its full name. Is there any solution??
The crazy thing is, that dropbox on the iPhone shows long filenames in landscape mode, but at the iPad it seems to be incredible complicated to make this basic and simple function work.
