Ending support of public folder

[ae2rigc]

Just heard from dropbox that support for the public folder is ending.

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As a result, we’ll soon be ending support for the Public folder. Dropbox Pro users will be able to use the Public folder until
September 1, 2017. After that date the files in your Public folder will become private, and links to these files will be deactivated. Your files will remain safe in Dropbox.

If you’d like to keep sharing files in your Public folder, you can create new shared links. Just make sure to send the new URLs to your collaborators.

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It is one of the most useful features of the service for me as I use it to get links to single files that I can send to people without setting up shared folders and requiring them to have dropbox accounts.

(Save file to my public folder locally, syncs, right click, get publick link, paste. Doesn't get any easier than that.)

It's also useful for bb style forum posts where you can link to images with an easy tag.

With the public folder support being removed, is there going to be an alternative solution to allow easy public sharing of single files?

[narikaa]

Its absolutely outrageous

If you were abused so overtly in the real world by someone at arms length

They'd be awaiting triage !!!

[Espyo]

So, this means I'll have to go through all places where I wrote down file sharing links (and naturally miss a few), and update the links to point to somewhere else on my Dropbox folder. But before that, I must go through all files that I'm sharing, move them elsewhere, go to the website (because the Linux client might as well not exist), and obtain a new link, for every single file.

And from here on out, whenever I want to share something with friends, I can no longer place it in the public folder and just write the link down myself (which is simple because it matches the file's name). Instead, I'll have to place my file somewhere, open my web browser, go to Dropbox, navigate to the folder, use the menus to obtain a link, and finally copy it to my clipboard.

...I'm very amused with the "We’re always looking to improve the Dropbox sharing experience." claim at the start.

Well, since I'm going to have to go through the trouble of going through every file and obtaining a new way of sharing said file, I think I'll prefer to do so on a service that actually respects its users. One that doesn't ignore features that should be present from day 1. One that doesn't throw the flimsiest, quickest client they could muster at the Linux userbase. One that doesn't write shady, ambiguous changelogs.

[Henry00]

As a programmer I was amazed how a tiny program like Dropbox, that you could make with a FileSystemWatcher and a "networking for beginners" tutorial in the .NET Framework, caught such a following.

As an autist the public folder is the only feature they offer that doesn't have all of the social nonsense attached, I can just copy and paste a file and it will be available in my public link, no hashes, no security, no ad-filled website with my file inside, no facebook, no twitter, no dropbox sharing settings and no list with a thousand of my shared links, just my file(s) on a web-server, simple, fast and efficient.

If they really delete the public folder concept at least they give a bunch of other file-sharing companies thousands of clients and a huge market share once those companies add this feature.

As for me, it's sad that I will no longer be able to use Dropbox but it's a days work to make my own program so no hard feelings. In fact, I already have several Terrabytes in a Data Center for a tenth the price of a Pro Account. It's really not that hard to sync a silly directory and put a link in the clipboard. I was simply too lazy to do it while this feature was already available to me.

[bdge]

I want to add another voice AGAINST this change. I would have to locate and change HUNDREDS, possibly THOUSANDS of links to public files that I have built up over the last I don't know how many years. This change would be a MAJOR PITA.

[routerf]

Why? Just why?
I used the Public folder with the super-easy sharing possibilites throughout the last two years. I have about 130 files. All of those with a short link or a suitable QR-code PRINTED, ergo: not changeable. There are a dozen people I'd have to notify including my former university (And I'm like: Hey, remember my bachelor thesis? If you want to view it again there is a new link. Thanks to Dropbox and goodbye...wow)
I understand that the Public-folder-way is oldfashioned and may not be as secure or whatever. But PLEASE Dropbox: Don't shut down the old links. In the future almost all of us can use a different method of sharing but don't make us create a s**tload of new links and spread them around the world.
Thank you (and sorry for the bad English, it's not my mother tongue)
Ferdinand

[epic3ntre]

I think there are some Dropbox execs somewhere who have chosen to p$$$ off 80% of their customers to encourage other people to sign up to DB and and monetise their access to the files and their service.

The paid subscribing little guy doesn't like that. Nor does this other little guy, or that one. In fact, when you look at it, there are battalions of little guys all up in arms and threatening to leave - myself included. Very risky move, Dropbox.

Wonder if there'll be any concessions for existing links or anything like that. A strong company listens to what its customers want, just as much as it focuses on profit margins. The two are interlinked anyway, so I hope they see some sense and throw us a bone somewhere...

[RIPerKilla]

Directlinks was the sole reason I used Dropbox. Will surely migrate somewhere else if Public folder goes away.

What a relief I was using free account. I feel sorry for Pros.

[ColinC]

I am extremely disappointed and angry at the decision to remove the Public folder abilities. I have, over the years, set up many dozens and dozens of links to images posted in blogs and other such locations using the Public folder. To find that these are suddenly going to become invalid is incredibly frustrating, particularly since many of them will be impossible to fix. Even those in the locations that I have easy access would take an impossible amout of time to fix. What a stupid idea.

This is an outrageous violation of your service to your loyal customers. You are removing a procedure that has been in place for years as an integral and trusted tool.

I am NOT impressed.

[rcassano]

My Dropbox "Public Folder" is used to potentially save my life. The link to this folder is entered into "Remarks" on my United States Coast Guard, EPIRB, (Emergency Position Radio Beacon) registration with specific details about my vessel and the rescue equipment found onboard. It includes information that can speed the response to a life and death emergency aboard the sailing vessel Gray Eagle. It includes photos of the vessel to make identification easy for SAR assets as well as other detailed data. I am not the only mariner who has used the "Public Folder" for this purpose. 



Without the Public Folder functioning as it is now, I will not have the capability to pass on this valuable life saving information to all US or international rescue agencies. I need my Public Folder to remain as is and allow any and all who have my link to access the data stored there. 



Please reconsider this decision. Thank you


R.Cassano
S/V Gray Eagle

Annapolis, MD, USA


[Oskar_M]

Another user who joins the request not to kill Public Folders. I mainly use it to link photos in other forums. If this option is finally killed, it will not make sense to use Dropbox for me.

Please Dropbox.