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File Request - Please provide an option to NOT rename our uploaded files
We receive tons of file submissions from our business partners daily. However, a large part of the time I spend managing these submissions is spent renaming the files because they're automatically prefixed or suffixed with the Dropbox username of the user that uploaded the file. This causes a lot of unnecessary work and wasted time.
I am requesting that you allow us - the paying Dropbox users - the option to determine for ourselves if the Dropbox username is desired . . . or, if the original unaltered filenames are what we'd like to have to work with.
Thank you.
PS - If I've linked you to this message, it was because you had created or responded to a thread that included the terms File & Request. I know this may not apply to everyone, but if you think that this is a reasonable feature to add (at least, the option to not have the Dropbox user prefixed or suffixed onto the original file name), then please vote for and link other Dropbox members that you think might benefit from this feature, and promote this idea!
Staab, Drew G, Teamchil, benebelt1, dwcapture, buildonrock, Artisticfuries, mccarthian, SuperStock, Macn101, MeritDeveloper, VJG21, Birsay, tc16, Rich, ramiromalcala, Mark, Ed, PPT320, Greg-DB, Filip H, Jay Tom Tom, hallofgame2k22, w_l, Hannah, Nancy, marplatense, jcm48, dappelgren
Hi everyone,
We are very happy to let you all know that the ability to remove the Dropbox username from a file name when submitting a File Request is now available.
When creating the File Request, simply click on the trashcan icon next to the "Sender's name" field to remove this from the incoming files.
We know that a lot of you have been very keen to see this feature added and we hope it now makes using File Requests a little bit easier for you all.
Thank you for you patience getting to here and for choosing Dropbox!
Have a great day!
Graham
46 Replies
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey twindux, thanks for taking the time to post to our Community.
Indeed, we've made some changes to file requests and you can now use naming conventions for them, with multiple options, depending on the file type.
I will however, pass your comments along to our team, so thank you for the feedback.
If you have any further questions, just let us know!
Please let us opt out of DropBox changing the file names. This a huge Direction to our workflow. As you know software recognizes file names and when someone upload something it gets changed and therefore we have to spend time to change all the files needlessly because DropBox added to them.
Others I'd like to include in this idea mention (I can only include 30 at a time)
Frank_S, gbolin, lfarrell, Janet, Jane, cascadeCommons, Galaxy Liz, Megan, CcummingsDT, Walter, jeremysr, micha13, shannonc, saxtophone, Daphne, Taxaway, Business813, Ian Avery, abrogers, JasonJ, owladmin, Robea, Smilus, Lusil, mbshell, Zensible, DCrews, robertoandrade, ppciesiolkiewicz, Tripti12
Interesting that they chose to close the other thread without any kind of meaningful response. Thanks for bumping. This is still an incredibly frustrating function to navigate around for anyone who relies on file naming as part of their file organization... which is literally everyone.
I had no idea this was happening. It does not happen to my team, but perhaps on larger teams? I agree that it should be an option.
Please vote for!
Thanks sunspots, I was confused why that original thread was closed.
My point to add is that in almost any media post-production workflow, the target consumers that will more often than almost anyone else need anything approaching the 50GB file size, a critical element is filenames.
If the filename changes, things immediatley break.
My current workaround is to have the deliverer upload a folder, even if only a single file inside, because it doesn't rename the files or subfolders within, just the top folder. Since I have to change directories after delivery anyway, this means I don't have to do anything other than make a new folder at the target directory with the proper name before moving the files.
Don't get me wrong, this still stinks and makes it a difficult process to automate, but it would have been worse to deal with the files themselves renamed.
As mentioned in prior discussions on this top that were closed inexplicably:
I encountered this problem after using the request file feature for the first time in a while (seems Sep. 2022 this issue came back).
It is absolutely bonkers that there is no option to leave the filenames untouched as they are uploaded. I'm aghast at how absurd this situation is we find ourselves in. This is utter madness. I now have to manually rename every single file I've been sent to work with any sane scripting.
I will do everything in my power to get us off Dropbox and onto a workable solution ASAP.
