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Forum Discussion
Charles D.23
10 years agoNew member | Level 1
what is cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url
I recently had all my files in a shared folder deleted. I was able to go in and restore them all, but in the process found one suspicious file, which I did not restore which was "cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url". Does anyone know what that might be?
Next to all my deleted files was "Dale". One of my users is Dale, but he says it wasn't him?
Hi all, apologies for the confusion here β I can help provide some information.
Background: Dropbox allows you to save website URLs to Dropbox as individual files. For example, if you were to navigate to www.dropbox.com, then drag and drop the URL from the URL bar of your web browser into Dropbox, it would result in a file being created called "www.dropbox.com.url". If you were to click on that file, it will open a new browser window or tab and take you to that page.
Now, about the "cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url" files: we had a temporary issue with our new redesigned website where, in some cases, dragging and dropping a file in your Dropbox on the website (for example, to drag it into another folder, or by accident) would mistakenly add it to your Dropbox as a URL file.
We've since fixed this issue, so you shouldn't see it happen again; however, if you have any of these cfl files in your account, you can simply delete them β they're harmless!
30 Replies
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- Vicky9 years ago
Dropbox Staff
Hi Charles,
Thank you for reporting this issue. At the moment our team is investigating and we will get back to you as soon as possible. - Rich9 years ago
Super User II
I've seen this before, and have done it myself a few times.
Dropbox has the ability to save URLs that you drag into its window. That's all that's happening here. You're intending to click on something, whether to view or select, while you're still moving your mouse. Your browser sees this as a click and drag, and Dropbox treats that as though you're dragging something into its window. Basically, you're dragging a link into the Dropbox window and Dropbox is saving it. In this case it just happens to be a link to a Dropbox file or folder.
If you edit that URL file in a text editor you'll see the link that you dragged.
- Charred_Lee9 years agoNew member | Level 2
Hi Vicky -
Same weird file in my folders. What is it ?
Thank you !
- Rich9 years ago
Super User II
...taps the microphone...
Is this thing on?
Edit the file in a text editor and look at the content. - Sanchez9 years ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey guys,As my colleague mentioned earlier, we are currently investigating the exact cause of this file. However, I can confirm that the file can be safely deleted, with no effect on your files or your account!Thanks - Mark9 years ago
Super User II
Or Sanchez you could read what Rich said a fortnight ago (with no further posts since so not sure why the thread was bumped?) and look at the file which shows its a URL accidentally dragged in.
- Rich9 years ago
Super User II
Once again...
Rich wrote:
I've seen this before, and have done it myself a few times.
Dropbox has the ability to save URLs that you drag into its window. That's all that's happening here. You're intending to click on something, whether to view or select, while you're still moving your mouse. Your browser sees this as a click and drag, and Dropbox treats that as though you're dragging something into its window. Basically, you're dragging a link into the Dropbox window and Dropbox is saving it. In this case it just happens to be a link to a Dropbox file or folder.
If you edit that URL file in a text editor you'll see the link that you dragged.
- Niva9 years agoNew member | Level 2
I am getting this same thing. What is this? I just deleted it. I am hoping it wont affect my files.
- RichardDBX9 years ago
Dropbox Staff
Hi all, apologies for the confusion here β I can help provide some information.
Background: Dropbox allows you to save website URLs to Dropbox as individual files. For example, if you were to navigate to www.dropbox.com, then drag and drop the URL from the URL bar of your web browser into Dropbox, it would result in a file being created called "www.dropbox.com.url". If you were to click on that file, it will open a new browser window or tab and take you to that page.
Now, about the "cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url" files: we had a temporary issue with our new redesigned website where, in some cases, dragging and dropping a file in your Dropbox on the website (for example, to drag it into another folder, or by accident) would mistakenly add it to your Dropbox as a URL file.
We've since fixed this issue, so you shouldn't see it happen again; however, if you have any of these cfl files in your account, you can simply delete them β they're harmless!
- camrob9 years agoExplorer | Level 3
your "temporary" issue has been happening in my business account for almost a year now, only it actually destroys the files I have dropped in as far as we can tell: it converts the files we have saved into a cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url file, and my files disappear compeltely when it does. The link goes nowhere.
We have contacted customer service several times over the past year about this, then it seems to go away for a while. A few of the files have been restored now, yet it continues to happen, as recently as Friday (3 days ago). This issue has never been resolved for us. This time it, unfortunaltely, deleted ("converted") files for a time sensitive project for over a week, and added about 10 hours of work (and expense). This is still not resolved. I just emailed dropbox Customer Service again sicne there was no reply to my past 3 emails with links to the affected Folders from Friday's problems. Is there something we are doing on our end that is causing this? If so, I am not sure why CS wouldn't tell us.
Then here is what happened today when i click on a Word doc file that showed as successfully loaded:
.lnk files canβt be previewedNew Here Page FW May 2017 Website - revision 2.lnk Β· 1.29 KBThis seems to be a new glitch.Any suggestions?
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