Why does Dropbox insist on renaming my files?

Thanks for sharing dwcapture ! I know how you feel about this.

There is only one sensible way to do this. You either keep device-given filenames, or you let users do this properly and willingly, where you allow them to specify if and how they want the renaming to be done, for all the same reasons both you and I, and others, have already mentioned previously. We keep repeating ourselves but Dropbox is not hearing our plea.

This doesn't have to be complicated, and it should not be all that complicated to allow users to control this part of Dropbox.

There are two odd things about this I want to point out.

1. It's already possible to create your own naming rules for Dropbox on the web. The desktop version of it relies on the web version, so they are one and the same in that sense. But it's not possible on the mobile app. I'm using Android but I see it's the same with the iOS app.

2. This careless/forced renaming only applies to the Camera Upload feature of Dropbox for mobile devices. Mind-bending! So if you just select a bunch of photo files and save them manually to Dropbox, they are not renamed! Works even if you save them to the special "Camera Upload" folder. It's only when the app does it automatically as you take photos that it renames them! Weird, huh? I mean what were they thinking?... you're either all-in, or all-out. You don't leave one foot in, half-baked implementation, and then let it hang like that for years.

I am also a photo enthusiast and I have some 57000 photos from the past 10 years on my computer. If I had some dumb app rename all my files without asking me for permission – because some tech giant knows best what I need – I think it's only fair to compare that to a virus attack! But when it's sneaked in as a "smart feature" and you yourself have installed it, or if it's part of your new operating system, then you can't really hold anyone accountable.

I don't want to imagine what I would do if something like this happened to my photo collection. For me, it's not a matter of taste or preference, and this is what Dropbox doesn't seem to understand. It's a matter of function. For example, my Adobe Lightroom database depends on these file names. In the past, I have had to locate and reconnect old files to the database, and it was no fun. Weeding out duplicate files is another solid reason why you might want to stick to one naming convention, preferably the one that came long before Dropbox was around.

In my opinion, no app should ever rename or otherwise alter user files and user data without prompting the user to do so. But we're living in a time where data processing and user interactions are increasingly more and more automated. Users serve merely to pay the bills for various subscription plans, everything else is taken care of by the brains behind the various companies. (Unless those brains are replaced by artificial intelligence, then it's an automated company.) Other times still, their subscriptions or "free" services are paid for by their data.