Sharing a File With Someone Who Doesn't Have Dropbox Installed

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Jtavernor wrote:
To use the link they would need the Dropbox app?

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No, just a browser so they can access the Dropbox website. No account necessary when viewing or downloading from a shared link.

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... can they just create a Dropbox account with the same email address that I used to share that folder?

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No. Each account needs a unique email address. And please DO NOT share your Dropbox credentials with them as they would have access to your entire account, including the ability to take it over or delete it.

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Jtavernor wrote:
So once they access the Dropbox website, what is the next step to access the link. It looks like they would need to create an account

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They just need to click the shared link that you send to them. As long as you created it as a view-only link (and not one with edit access), they'll be able to access the folder without signing in.

I've tried to share a file with a person using the link (read only) option but it just doesn't seem to work. I feel so dumb as the instructions are very clear! Any thoughts? And also, if I share with a person and they don't have dropbox, do they have to get dropbox to be able to view the file? Thanks for any help.

Hey fcaco, thanks for reaching out to us!

You can definitely share files with people who don't have a Dropbox account; through a 'view-only' shared link.

Can you let us know more about why it's not working for you?

Thanks, Hannah.  My goal is to be able to give visual access only to some dropbox files occasionally. When I follow the instructions I copy the link to a dropbox file and I understand it then  sits on my computer clipboard. From experimentation I learn I then have to leave dropbox and open my gmail account, address the email to my intended recipient, click the paste command in the message part of the email and voila the view-only access link is sent.  So far okay, but then when the recipient receives the email the SENDER is listed as me, personally, not my non-profit group who has the dropbox account. To remedy this I went back to see if I could "share" the link directly from dropbox to my recipient without having to go into my personal email account.  When I do that it does indeed share the link BUT it's requiring the recipient to have a dropbox account of their own to view it. 

I would like to know if there is a way to send the link to a file from the dropdown box in dropbox so that I don't need to leave dropbox and go to my personal email to send it.

Hi fcaco, currently, there isn't an option to send a shared link to a file or folder directly via the Dropbox site. It would need to be pasted into another document, email or message to be sent manually to another another.

What you created instead when sharing via the site is a shared file, which can only be accessed with a Dropbox account.

Dear community,

I want to share my photo folder with friends. Some have Dropbox, some don't. If they use the link they get the question "Get member of map" or "Look for example of this map". In the first option they get a copy in their Dropbox. That I don't want and also the friends don't want that, because it takes space of their Dropbox volume.

The second case is perfect. However is it possible that my friends immediately go to the example option without receiving the choice of the two options?

Kind regards, John

Hey JohnDeLange, it sounds like you're sending your recipients a "can edit" link, instead of a "can view" one.

Make sure to use these steps and your recipients should be able to access the folder without being asked to join.