Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
skepticalthinker
3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Shared link asks viewers to request access. Why does this happen?
Greetings. I have a shared file set to be viewable by anyone with the link, and I've sent the link to those I want to view the file (see screenshot). However, when they access the link, Dropbox states they "do not have access to this file" and offers the option to request access, which I must individually approve. I have other files configured with these same settings, and those with whom I've shared those links can access them without any separate approval. I don't know why this particular file is different. Am I missing something?
Hi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
79 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- PhilW12 years agoExplorer | Level 3
I've shared a link to a PDF in Dropbox, access is set to anyone with link and downloads enabled. Why am I being asked to approve access. This functionality seems to be broken.
- Nancy2 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
PhilW1, are you sure you didn’t follow these steps instead to share this file with other users? It sounds like this is happening in your case.
Let me know, and we’ll take it from there.
- PhilW12 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Absolutely sure, created share link for a file, and added to email. it has the RLKEY= in the query string. I have shared the way I have always shared. Access shows as everyone , and no one should need to have a Dropbox account and be logged in.
- Nancy2 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Thanks for confirming that! Do you have an example screenshot of what a recipient is seeing on their end perhaps? There should be an option to ignore the login prompt and continue to viewing your shared link.
Also, are your recipients seeing this on their mobile browsers or even on a computer, as well?
- Bm227822 years agoExplorer | Level 3
We are having the same problem in my office. It started a couple of weeks ago and I have contacted support but haven't had much luck in finding the problem. We share the 'can view' link out to many individuals, where the link is in a pdf document and when people select the link, we either get this problem or it tells them they have to sign up for dropbox or log into it if they have an account. We have tried sharing the folder at the team level and individual level.
- Walter2 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi there Bm22782 - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Since you got in contact with our support team about this, could you share your ticket ID so that we can look it up in our system?
- Bm227822 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Absolutely. the ticket # is 23668995. We had some clients email us this morning that they are unable to open the links. Very frustrating. It's only been going on for the last 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure if some sort of update is causing issues or what.
- Megan2 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Bm22782, thanks for the ticket number!
I located your communication with our Support, and raised the priority to High.
Since the case has been escalated to our Advanced agents, I'd suggest that you hold tight, and let them investigate this for you. I understand how crucial this is for you, and we appreciate your patience.
Thanks!
- kellanp2 years agoNew member | Level 2
I'm curious if this was ever resolved, as I am having the same issue. Everything was set up correctly, but certain users are being forced to request access? Could it have to do with their own Dropbox account settings?
- Hannah2 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey kellanp, thanks for the nudge here.
Just to confirm, is the link in question a "can edit" or a "can view" one?
About Create, upload, and share
Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.
The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!