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DocMolly's avatar
DocMolly
Helpful | Level 6
4 years ago
Solved

Replace files without breaking the shared link on desktop application for Mac

Hello,    I have used Dropbox for years to share PDFs on my website. I work on a mac and use the Dropbox desktop application. Previously, when I wanted to replace a PDF under the same name in Dro...
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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    4 years ago

    Hi DocMolly, thanks for posting .

     

    This behavior hasn't changed, so if you copy and paste a file with an identical name, the file should be overwritten and the shared link would remain the same since the file would be seen as edited.

     

    Have you recently made any changes on the Mac, such as updating the OS?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago

Hi doss, it depends on how the app you're using saves files. It could simply overwrite the existing file, thus preserving the link, or it could delete the original and save the new version, deleting the shared link.

 

Upload the file directly to the site would overwrite it automatically and preserve the shared link.

doss's avatar
doss
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago
This doesn’t work with PDFs. I need a different fix. This is definitely causing problems for me. If I can’t fix it, I’ll need to switch to a different cloud storage, which I don’t want to do at all.
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Did you recently upgrade to a different OS, or did the Dropbox desktop application upgrade?

    • Mstrcreative's avatar
      Mstrcreative
      Helpful | Level 6
      3 years ago
      It’s been like this since November but I can’t tell what was the cause with a 100 percent accuracy. After I upgraded the native os app for Dropbox when they changed the location in finder that is when I noticed this flaw. It’s so bad that I’m considering abandoning Dropbox. They don’t seem to care about this at all.
      • doss's avatar
        doss
        Helpful | Level 6
        3 years ago
        Yes, I agree. It was late last year that I noticed this problem. I chatted with two reps who seemed to have no idea what I was talking about but it’s obviously still a problem. I’m likely going to have to switch to Google or use my iCloud account for sharing. Those aren’t as good as what Db was when it worked but they are free or a fraction of the cost, so
 I really need this fixed.
    • doss's avatar
      doss
      Helpful | Level 6
      3 years ago
      This problem started with the last Db upgrade, I think. It’s been happening for awhile. I only recently upgraded to Ventura—I don’t think my MacOS is the issue.

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