The Photos page is changing...

So essentially the major change Dropbox has made is to eliminate the ability to create a link to multiple files for any purpose, be it to send in an e-mail, post to Facebook, whatever.  (The minor change is the date timeline scroll on the photo page, but since that was imprecise, it’s not a major change IMO.)  The inability to create links to multiple files clearly makes Dropbox less useful to those who want to share photos.  The question, as always when a software developer eliminates desirable functionality, is “why?”

One theory is that, by forcing users to create folders and perhaps copy the same photo to multiple folders, user storage space limits are maxed out faster, which results in higher revenue as users must purchase additional storage space.  That’s a nice conspiracy theory, but I don't think that's the reason.  Consumers who need that functionality will simply migrate to another cloud service that is more photo-friendly and offers it, if such a service exists.

Another theory is that the cost to maintain separate photo software is not providing a decent ROI to Dropbox.  That theory, which is endorsed by a friend of mine who advises technology companies for a living, at least makes business sense, even though it pisses off those of us who love the photo functionality Dropbox previously had.  This theory is supported by the fact that several years ago Dropbox attempted to differentiate itself by adding Carousel, and other photo friendly features, but started backing away from those last year, apparently not receiving the anticipated ROI.  Since it would be an irrational business decision to discontinue a feature that is adding subscribers, I suspect my friend is right.  Even as browser software, cloud service software has to be maintained.   My friend also suggested that perhaps contractual relationships with Amazon and Google may have compelled or encouraged Dropbox to not compete with these cloud storage behemoths in the photo-user space, though this was only a surmise by him -- though not a bad one.

A third theory crossed my mind:  When Dropbox created a multi-file (photo or otherwise) link, it really created a metadata file which, when accessed, created on-the-fly (if designed properly) and "album" fly to display and access the various files -- it's not as though Dropbox needed to store separate copies of files and store them.  However, doing this would take processor power, and also take up some storage space, as we must assume that several on-the-fly "albums" would exist at any one time.

What is curious about Dropbox’s decision to cripple the ability to create links to multiple files is its effect on non-photo file users.  While it may be more common for photo users to create links to multiple files, it is a feature that non-photo users also use, but no more.  If there is a way to create a link to multiple files, photos or otherwise, I haven't found it and, based on Dropbox's comments about its changes, I don't believe it exists.

All of which is frustrating, but falls under the category of "don't worry about things you can't control."  If the kind of functionality Dropbox had prior to this latest crippling "upgrade" has a market, the marketplace will eventually provide, whether it is another company or Dropbox (though this latest takeaway has, at least among current users, crated consumer trust).  That's how capitalism works, though it doesn't always work as quickly as we would like.

Excellent write up, thanks for taking the time to put forward your thoughts on what might have happened. It was useful to read the opinions of your friends in the industry as well. 

Thanks.  While the photo changes have not cracked the tech trades yet, here is what is in the news, that sheds a little light on why Dropbox is content to piss off its photo users:

Planning huge IPO

Taking its network in-house and distributing its cloud servers globally

Strangely the sharing a single link to multiple photos still works from the latest version of the iOS app. 

Their new system is aweful and no instructions.  Worthless.  The job of their staff in responding to us is to respond but not react.

Several years ago I weighed up my options and concluded that Dropbox was the best Cloud storage provider for my growing needs. A large part of this decision was that I found it to have increasingly excellent photo upload/storage/management tools. The greatest bulk of my storage is taken up with photos and videos which I want to keep safe and also be able to share easily.

Dropbox has ever since been slowly removing all of the functionality which made me choose them in the first place. Removing the Albums is the last straw. I am a paying customer and I find the lack of communication insulting from a company I had previously had nothing but praise for.

There has been no viable alternative provided for me to have been able to keep my album structure - it was simply not practical to download all the 200GB worth of photos as individual zip files of 1GB onto a harddrive, reorganise them into folders and then re-upload them again. Not to mention the issue of duplication of photos featuring within multiple albums.

It is very sad to lose trust in a company I have been loyal to for almost 10 years. I can see no way of recovering my recently paid yearly subscription, so it looks like I will have to soldier on with a solution no longer fit for my purposes, but I will more than likely jump ship to Google as soon as I can.

Agreed! So very disappointing.

As I have feared they have completly killed Photo segment of their bussines.

Disgusting....

A sad, sad day for Dropbox users worldwide.

For what I see you cannot do that.
Current Photos page is just "view only" mode of your pictures.
It's not there for you to interact with your pictures. If you want to interact with your pictures you will have to go to the folder where they are located.
Terrible, terrible user interface and frankly a last nail in Photo segment for Dropbox.

It's infuriating. After so much time invested in this interface, now to realize I have to move everything over to Google.  

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kfrancis wrote:
How am I supposed to select multiple photos from the Photos page and then move it all into a folder?

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You can't move photos from the Photos page. When selecting files on the Photos page, your only option (for mutliple files) is to download them.

Right, but can't you choose to show in folder, and all the files you have selected can then be moved into a folder? If that is the case, it would still work for my needs--but I would need to be able to multi-select on the Photo page, where I can actually see the photos I'm looking at. 

My very favorite part about the new "feature" is where you select a few photos that are lucky enough to reside in the same folder together and then choose to view them in the folder.  Good luck finding the selected photos if you have hundreds of pics in that folder!

As soon as I find a solution to version history (I purchase the 1 year version history plan) I am out.  This is really, really bad.

I don' t even care that much about naming or maintaining albums.  I JUST WANT TO CLICK SOME PICS AND SEND SOMEONE A LINK!!

It would be nice if Dropbox would say.  "Hi all.  We have decided to change directions as a company and will be slowly phasing out X and Y over the next few N.  We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause but our business model is not sustainable in its current state and we understand if our services no longer meet your requirements."

At least I could empathize with  THAT instead of sitting here scratching my head saying "WTF?!".

Wow.

I totally agree with all of this!

I stumbled on this and it makes me sad - or maybe mad?

https://www.cultofmac.com/216665/a-tour-of-dropboxs-amazing-new-albums-feature/

Looks like it is back to doing things the 'old way'...

The most annoying part about this is the missed opportunity. Instead of removing the album/meta information functionality, it should have been ADDED for all other file types. Forcing files to go in a single folder is deprecated and has been for years. Using labels to allow files to be categorized multiple times would have been an extremely awesome feature. What we have now is just stupid.

I am surprised that this change hasn't got any coverage at all in the technology press.

I wrote up a quick summary: https://boldsparks.com/dropbox-photos-changes