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Forum Discussion
How can I share a password protected link to a directory and its sub-directories?
I have a Dropbox directory with multiple subdirectories on a professional account. I need to allow access to multiple people to the directory and subdirectories. Also, I need to restrict access to those without the password.
GOAL: 1) anyone with access to parent directory can access all subdirectories. 2) Anyone who receives a link, but does NOT have password, cannot access.
Previously I had copied and shared a link to the parent directory, with the a password set, but now I am discovering that only applies to that specific directory. How do I achieve this?
3 Replies
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey nw_photolaureate, thanks for your post.
A Dropbox shared link allows access to the content it's created for, so if you create a link to a folder, the recipients will gain access to the folder and whatever is in it.
That behavior shouldn't change when adding password protection to the link; is this not the behavior you're seeing?
Or is it something else you need?
Let me know and we'll go from there!
Hi Hannah thanks for your response. To clarify terminology, I'm not Sharing the folder, I'm copying the link. My past experience with "sharing" is that the recipient has to download the folder contents to their Dropbox.
Overall, I want to restrict access (viewing and editing) to a folder and all it's subdirectories via a password. Alternatively, it appears I can grant people access to folders.
The Links Permissions setting seem to only enforce a password for the url of the top directory and not subdirectories. Is that accurate?
My goal is this, is it possible(?):
- Grant access via password OR by adding people in the Permissions to a directory, and have it propagate to subdirectories.
- Parent and children directories require access by adding in permissions or password.
- Rich
Super User II
The Links Permissions setting seem to only enforce a password for the url of the top directory and not subdirectories. Is that accurate?
The link permissions apply to whatever folder you've set the permissions on, including all content in that folder.
If you create a link for a parent folder and assign a password for it, anyone with both the link and password will be able to view and download anything in the parent folder including all subfolders. If they don't have the password, they can't access anything.
- Grant access via password OR by adding people in the Permissions to a directory, and have it propagate to subdirectories.
- Parent and children directories require access by adding in permissions or password.
You're referring to two different sharing methods; shared links and shared folders. Shared links can have passwords but only allow viewing and downloading. When adding someone to a folder there are no passwords, and you can specify whether they have View Only or Can Edit access. Any access you assign is for everything in the folder.
If you use a shared link, they have to either access the files through the Dropbox website, add a copy to their own Dropbox account, or download them to a computer. No Dropbox account required. If you use a shared folder, the folder will be added to the person's Dropbox account (required), assuming they have enough space, and the content will sync to their computer if they have Dropbox installed.
