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Make offline files visible in the android filesystem

Make offline files visible in the android filesystem

andersmusikka
Helpful | Level 5

I think you should make files stored offline on Android available in the file system.

 

As it is now, the dropbox files marked as 'available offline' are hidden from the rest of the operating system. This gives a number of problems:

 

1: When opening a file in an app, that app may put the file path in its 'most recently used documents'-list. However, since the path it gets from the Dropbox-app is not long-lived, the 'most recently used documents'-list becomes unusable, since the links on it become dead rather quickly.

2: It makes using browsing apps, like photo viewers or podcast players, on your offline files impossible.

3: Some apps expect content to be found on the file system. For example, the samsung app used to download content onto a samsung smart watch, expects to find files in the file system. It cannot be used to download files from dropbox onto the smart watch.

4: Sometimes a smart phone is used a bit like a computer. Like uploading files to an FTP-server and the like. A FTP-client typically expects to find files on the file system, and allows them to be selected and uploaded. This does not work with Dropbox.

 

A possible  work-around is to export the contents from the dropbox offline folder onto the phones regular file system. This is unsatisfactory because:

 

1) It feels cumbersome. The number of clicks to send a podcast episode to a smart watch, or to download a .pdf from dropbox and upload to an FTP-server, becomes a few too many.

2) For files which can be edited (like password manager saves, various profiles, text documents etc), the user needs to remember to copy the file back to Dropbox, which is very error prone.

 

Dropbox obviously already has technology to synk a file system folder with dropbox. Could not this functionality be offered on smart phones also?

 

 

81 Replies 81

DukeGamma
Helpful | Level 6

Can anyone recommend a good alternative that isn’t Google Drive?

SpicyLemon
Helpful | Level 6

This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app

 

When I pay Dropbox every month, I'm paying for a service that keeps files in sync across multiple devices. I don't pay you for just the Android app. The Android app is just one element of the service you provide. What I expect from it is the same service I get everywhere else: keeping a folder on the device in sync without me having to think about it.

 

In other words, the current Android app behavior is NOT the behavior I expect from Dropbox. Go back to your roots and maintain the functionality that brought me to you in the first place.

simpson b.
Helpful | Level 7

No. Clock off.

 - Love, Dropbox team.

 

Oh by the way, since I'm a developer myself, I read up on restrictions in Android 11 and 12, turns out, you can access the folders just fine, just not with Dropbox. Third party tools can, other apps can and some of the browsers even support Dropbox. Best 4 bucks I ever spent.

 

There's a list on reddit in r/Android with all the tools that can access restricted folders and can sync from cloud services, some from dropbox some from competing services. I don't have the time to read on linking so I'll just say: if you know where reddit is and what r/Android means, it should take you under a minute.

 

I mean I GUESS I don't care who syncs it. Bit disappointed, but from what I care this issue is solved.

 

There's this guy who says he syncs his savegames between PC and Android from 4 days ago so I'm happy. 😀

Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi everyone, due to recent updates made to Android systems, offline files can only be stored in a Cache folder. I am afraid that the only way to access your Dropbox files on your mobile device even when offline is to use the Dropbox App directly. This would be the intended functionality.

If you wish to access these files outside of the Dropbox App then you can always export your Dropbox files to your mobile device directly instead. We appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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otakuarchivist
Helpful | Level 5
If this were actually true then there wouldn't be third party applications that can do this. In good news for me, how you've handled this has convinced me to drop my $19.99/month subscription and roll my own personal NextCloud instance. So I guess thank you for convincing me to no longer work with Dropbox, thus saving me some money.

MaxRavenclaw
Helpful | Level 7

I've posted a comment with alternatives a while ago. Sadly, last I checked, none of them had this much missed feature, and instead require a separate, third party app (from the same people who made Dropsync). In case you're not in the mood to look back (I sure aren't either), here's what I had on a paper on my desk:

 

MEGA: bonus is that you can download beyond the 5GB limit they normally have, so it's wroth subscribing if you use MEGA links a lot. They're also praised for their encryption/privacy/security. ONE DRIVE: Also has black level upload like dropbox, and you get Office with it, in case you're interested. Version history and rewind. GDRIVE: more space for google photos. Version history.

 

That's what I have.

simpson b.
Helpful | Level 7

@Jay Stop saying that. It is simply not true. There are several apps out there, on Google play, with better star rating than Dropbox app, that do exactly that, which I bought and use to sync up files.  "offline files can only be stored in a Cache folder" cannot be true as MULTIPLE software apps do this, and only one is needed to prove you wrong.

 

27,377 people have vouched for ONE of the sync solutions available. Another has 38,174. And all of them on the first page that I checked have a better rating than Dropbox's own solution, hovering between 4.6 and 4.8 with DB's own at 4.2.

 

And may I say, it's well deserved. DB has positioned itself as the premium and it's so warm and fuzzy in its throne that it doesn't even consider adding features that everyone else has. Even the reviewers recommend using a good explorer with Dropbox functionality in place of the original app. I don't understand how a solo developer using APIs that DB made outpaces a 2500 employees corporation.

Aljaz5
Helpful | Level 6
@Jay
You and DB are just searching for (invalid) excuses. Not for solutions.
Every other app out there can make own folder in the root drive that is fully available to the user and all other apps (android user). For example, I have an app from DJI (drones) and cached photos are stored in publicly available folder. Even the standard Gallery app has access there. So - no excuses from DB. You tell us just bullsh*t. I think it's time to move to a competitor.

SpicyLemon
Helpful | Level 6

@Jay wrote:
[D]ue to recent updates made to Android systems, offline files can only be stored in a Cache folder.

That is just not true. There are plenty of apps out there that store things in the file system where it's accessible by other apps.

 


@Jay wrote:
This would be the intended functionality.

That's the functionality that YOU have chosen. It's clearly not the functionality that your customers want. It may be working as intended, but your intentions here are rubbish.

 


@Jay wrote:
If you wish to access these files outside of the Dropbox App then you can always export your Dropbox files to your mobile device directly instead.

Again, that's not true and also defeats the purpose of Dropbox. The purpose of dropbox is to keep folders and files in sync across multiple devices. The app does not let you download folders. Plus, once a file is download to my phone, changes to that file on my phone are no longer reflected on my other devices.


@Jay wrote:
We appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

My patience for this ran out a long time ago. My understanding is that you're sticking cotton in your ears and pretending everything is just fine. The only "process" going on here is Dropbox making false statements and claiming there's nothing they can do (about their own product).

 

I do need further assistance though. I need Dropbox to abandon their push on the web interface and again focus on the client programs/apps, which are the reason anyone ever starts using dropbox in the first place. You are ruining your own product by believing you can tell customers what they want, rather than selling the product they need.

 

 

 

MaxRavenclaw
Helpful | Level 7

@simpson b. Please share what apps you've found that have this functionality, I'd like to know my options.

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