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Forum Discussion
Link breaks on file update. How to avoid?
Sharing links to files that may be updated is an important functionality. There are several discussions on the subject (at least this one and this one). Unfortunately, the problem persists (and these...
Hi Jay,
Thanks for your input. It's consistent with what I read on the other threads. I still believe it's unduly more complicated than if dropbox did work around these quirks. Of course, existing users might have adapted, and maybe dropbox developers perceive the fix to cost more than the potential benefits.
But the use case I was considering here would have allowed convincing some departments to use dropbox links rather than the cumbersome platform we have now. But if we have to go online and double check the links all the time, then dropbox links are not useful in that specific instance.
Any update on this? When, on a website, I create a link <a href="./some_file.pdf">The PDF</a>, the link points to "some_file.pdf", regardless how I update it on the server. Now, I'd like href to point to "some_file.pdf" somewhere on my dropbox, regardless of how I update the said file. Seems reasonable, no?
- Rich
Super User II
Christian D. wrote:
Now, I'd like href to point to "some_file.pdf" somewhere on my dropbox, regardless of how I update the said file. Seems reasonable, no?
No, it depends on how the file is updated. If, during the update, the file is first deleted and then replaced with a new file, the link will be deleted along with the original file. In order to retain the link, the file needs to be replaced without first being deleted.
- Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
As of yet, there are no updates on the changes to the shared links. Updating files directly on the site results in no loss of shared link.
Opening a file on the machine, which has a shared link already, then editing and saving should retain the link. However, certain apps might save files a different way, again, deleting the original file and recreate it, thus deleting the shared link.
