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I create printables I share on Etsy, and because the files are so large, I send a dropbox folder link. It USED to be that the page the link went to would have the choices at top Copy to Dropbox and Download ONLY. Now every link has Join Folder, Copy to Dropbox, and Download. I keep getting email requests to join the folder, which is really annoying. I just want someone to be able to download the files, and that's it. I cannot figure out for the life of me how to make the Join Folder go away! I've tried everything I can think of and nothing changes. I'm going crazy.
Dropbox, this is a broken feature, with inconsistent user experience, and got rolled out to impact your customers who are paying for your service without articulating what it means or how to opt out. Just ROLL IT BACK. Telling from earlier replies to this thread, you clearly have no idea how your users are using folder sharing for their business like these who sell digital downloads. Sharing a view-only link while keeping Share Folder disabled is a clear indication the user doesn't want others to join the folder, and your Join Folder (and even highlighted) just turns the folder shared, and then Unshare Folder just breaks all past linkes shared. This is ridiculous design with rookie mistakes. Whoever designed this and pushed this rollout should just take the responsibility to roll it back for your users, give peace back to your users, and then re-work on this half-baked stuff.
I have to include myself and my team on the list of unhappy Dropbox customers because of this issue. We pay over $500 and I have to spend my time explaining our clients why we don't want them to join the folders.
And now there even is some kind of bug, which doesn't show ANY buttons and clients can't do anything with the links.
When I open the same link in my browser (logged off in incognito mode) it shows buttons. Today a second client sent me a screenshot without buttons, probably both Apple devices.
So I have two requests:
1) Fix the bug
2) Remove the Join folder button for view only links. PLEASE. It doesn't make sense. We want them to view only. Simple as that. Do you have anybody saying they like the feature? It disrupts our workflow,
The auto download parameter doesn't help. It is again pushing client to do something they don't want to.
The Transfer also is not an option for us. In some cases we update folders and having the same link really helps. We just tell the client we made an update and they just refresh. Generating Transfers is an extra step.
Just wanted to jump on this to state we have the same issue as the OP in this thread. The 'Join Folder' option is very irritating for our workflow. We use an app and API to automate out link sharing for folders which we use to share files which are for download ONLY - if Dropbox Transfer was supported by the dbx api, we would use this, but it is not. Considering we pay a pretty hefty sum for Dropbox it is pretty disappointing how little customisation there is available to us for folder link sharing.
this is an extremely normal use case for a file sharing service. why do i want to ask every single one of my hypothetical newsletter recipients to send me their personal information? Because that's what happens when someone Joins Folder. It sends me their Dropbox name and email address. The first time I sent out one of these new links, I was extremely embarrassed and alarmed to find myself in posession of personal information I was not expecting when 2 of my recipients Joined Folder. That was in July and I was able to work around it to get the old type of link at that time. Now I have the same issue, my former fix isn't working, and you're telling me that this mandatory privacy disaster is intentional? I collab on Discord and other username-based platforms where we are not expecting to exchange this level of private information so to have Dropbox solicit it on my behalf without my permission, with no way to prevent it and still do the 1 thing i pay Dropbox for (download) means I need to stop paying Dropbox and find another host. I'm really upset with this. I think my annual renewal payment was recent and now I find out you removed the one feature I pay it for.
Will Dropbox ever respond to our pleas???
This new 'upgrade' is a massive PITA!
I have link shares that I provide free photos to nearly 100,000 customers.
Guess how many annoying notifications I have to deal with.
(Turning off all notifications nor pausing notifications works - that's broke too)
Guess how many emails I have to delete - I shouldn't have to deal with the bludgeon of unsolicited emails on behalf of Dropbox.
I understand that this is a Dropbox marketing campaign.... but using existing customers to obtain emails from all of our customers is shady and not what any of us signed up for. ![]()
That is not a solution. Disabling both Join and Download with one toggle is not what we need. We need to disable Join and leave the Download option on. I think you are completely missing the point of most of the comments here. The Join option is creating false expectations on our clients side.
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