Overwriting files when uploading through browser

[Martin B.11]

Hi, I just uploaded some GIF files to my dropbox. And I already had gif files in that folder, with same file names. When I dropped the files in, the files were overwritten without a warning or anything. I was expecting that dropbox will give me a choice - to replace the files or just copy the new files in and change their names. Can you do something about that? Thanks

[Richard P. · Accepted solution]

That's how its intended to work.

[Martin B.11]

Every OS or file manager app works like I would expect... Asking me if I want to overwrite the files or copy with new name. So why not Dropbox?

[Hhh11 · Accepted solution]

Because Dropbox is NOT OS or file manager! Dropbox is cloud based document repository - such as SharePoint. If you upload file with the same name most repositories create "new version" instead of creating something like this:

original name.docx

original name (1).docx

original name (2).docx

etc. So previous comment was right - it is intended feature and it is wanted and common in similar products.

[GRUPOPERUCOL]

So does that mean I will not have them back? That my files already have to give for lost? Or is there any other solution?

[Hhh1]

Nope. You can find any previous file version in the file version list. There are different version expiration periods - based on your Dropbox subscription.

[Morten T.1]

While the versioning is clever and all, its a bit annoying if you have a lot of files in a number of subfolders (think photo archive), and you want to be sure, there is a match between what is on your local drive, and what is in cloud. As there is no easy way to count all the files in parent folder, soyou have to overwrite potentially thousands of files, to be sure the one missing is also there...