Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

Pysio13's avatar
Pysio13
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago
Solved

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: 'https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/'. Do you know a way to restore the old way of generating links? I just need old way of links, because game can't read new links

    Greet 😛

Preview
Share
shared links
  • JasonSilverDBX's avatar
    JasonSilverDBX
    3 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.
     

211 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
Show More
  • vint29's avatar
    vint29
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    Hi Dropbox Team,

     

    When we generate the share URL using Dropbox SDK (objective-c) that share URL is still not accessible via dl.dropbox.com or dl.dropboxusercontent.com. Previously share URL generated using Dropbox SDK was accessible via dl.dropbox.com. However when we generate the URL for the same file from dropbox.com then it is accessible via dl.dropbox.com.

  • bleach hawk's avatar
    bleach hawk
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Now dl.dropboxusercontent.com is working for my .png files as well, I had to delete and generate new share links.

  • Skyeman69's avatar
    Skyeman69
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Has any tech staff at Dropbox found a solution yet? I've noticed that many others are facing the same issues since I posted the issue. But nothing seems to be resolved. Our website relies on accessing our Dropbox files, and this is now dragging on for weeks.  

  • jknight136's avatar
    jknight136
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    Ok after chatting with Dropbox support, we found a solution. It may not be ideal, but this works. Go to a file that was uploaded and generated an /scl/ link. Hover over it, click the three dots to open the menu, and click Share>>>Share with Dropbox. Click the gear icon in the top right, then click Link for Viewing. Delete the previously created link and then create a new link. Now when you copy the link, it should be a link with /s/ and it will work just like it always has. I hope this helps everyone. 

  • kstory's avatar
    kstory
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    Hi Matthew. This is great as a temporary fix but what is the long term solution? We attach urls for art files that go with orders to our print vendors. Asking them to manually change each link every time is not a good permanent solution. Please tell me you are working on a solution that creates a link to a direct download (like it did before)? If not, I am going to ask the integration platform I use (Order Desk) to discontinue Dropbox and use a different file sharing service. This has interrupted our order flow, causing late orders, lost productivity, and unhappy customers.

About View, download, and export

Node avatar for View, download, and export
Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!