How to delete a shared link to my photos?

[FrederickZh]

In the Dropbox Android app, I can go to the Photos UI, select a few photos, and generate a link.

Now my question is where I can revoke the link (or setting an expiry, a password, etc.)? It's not in Dropbox web's Shared page.

[Hannah]

Hey @FrederickZh, thanks for posting your question today!

You should be able to see the link you created and delete it from this page on the Dropbox website.

Let me know how it goes.

[FrederickZh]

Hi @Hannah, as mentioned the link is not in this page. I created such a link today but the latest link in Shared page was from 22 Feb.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bug related to the leap day.

[Hannah]

Hmm, in that case, while still on dropbox.com, navigate to the file, click on the share option (rectangular icon with an upwards facing arrow), click the gear icon at the top right, click "link for viewing (that's the one that was most likely created) and you should see a "delete link" option.

If that's not the case, is it possible that you sent a Transfer link instead of a shared link?

[FrederickZh]

@Hannah 'Link for viewing' only works for links to a single file/folder. I selected 4 photos. The link is still valid and 'link for viewing' just tells me 'There isn’t a link for viewing' for those photos.

And no, it wasn't a Transfer. I don't think Transfer is even supported in the Android app.

[FrederickZh]

@HannahWell, it wasn't the leap day. I just created another link to two photos in the Android app Photos UI, and it did not show up in https://www.dropbox.com/share/links either.

[Nancy]

Hi @FrederickZh, hope it’s OK to jump in here.

After double checking with the team too, I can confirm that viewing shared links to photo collections isn't currently possible via the Links section of your Shared tab, so you can't delete them.

The only way to do this would be if the original photo was deleted, which would also disable the shared link that points to it.

[FrederickZh]

Hi @Nancy, thanks for the confirmation.

To add to your reply, it seems one has to permanently delete the files and re-upload them as a workaround. If you restore the deleted files, the link will show those files again.

I have to say that this is hugely inconvenient. Not only is it troublesome to revoke links this way, but also requires users to track these links themselves. When https://www.dropbox.com/plans told me my plan had 'Shared link controls', this was definitely NOT what I expected. Not to mention it can easily be a security concern.

Could you please submit a feature request to the owning team?

[Nancy]

I totally understand what you mean. 

However, if you delete the files from your own Dropbox account, the recipient can’t restore them on their end, as they’re only part of your own Dropbox and not theirs (hope that makes sense). 

I can most definitely pass your feedback on this to our team though, so that they may take your comments into consideration.

In the meantime, what I can suggest as a workaround, is to create a folder on your Dropbox account instead and add in it the photos you want to share with other users via link; it'll be easier to apply permissions to your shared link this way and delete it later on, if you wish to.