Dropbox link keeps changing

[ajw1414]

Morning,

I have a excel file on dropbox where I setup a macro to have a powerquery run overnight to pull data from our databases and then save.  What we call our master data excel file.

Afterwards we have individual excel files linked to this master excel file to update account information.  Some 250 individual files.

This approach was working file for our team over the past year, but just yesterday we noticed that the dropbox link on the master file has changed.  Causing all 250 files needing to be relink.

I noticed this morning that the link has changed again.

There has been no changes to the file other than the data uploads over night.

Can anyone advise what the issue is?  Thank you

[Walter]

Hello @ajw1414 - welcome to the Dropbox Community!

Your inquiry echoes a discussion I had with some other users almost a year ago. Could you take a look there and let me know if it helps at all?

Thanks!

[ajw1414]

Hi Walter, thanks for the update, but not quite the same issue.  It appears that after a file is saved that the dropbox link now changes.  I'm unsure why. 

Old Link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6pcuy45qfpgal5d/FILE Name

After updating/performing a data pull, then saving the file.  We now have new links which detroys out power query links between the excel files.  The link change has never occured before.  Not sure why it's an issue now.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ljdikwwbqcqgoy8/File Name

https://www.dropbox.com/s/frxvvct2nblz3o7/File Name

[Walter]

Thanks for following up and providing the extra details here @ajw1414.

I'm still not sure how shared links to files of yours can be altered after running a macro in Excel; I'd love to look into it though.

Therefore, would it be OK if I reached out via the email address that's connected to your Community's profile to dig a tad deeper into this matter? 

[markbroemer]

Hello - this has been happening to me as well for the last week or ten days - over the years I have provided clients a link with a PDF file that is updated daily on our end, and this link has remained active for years.  Recently everytime I have saved over the old PDF with the current version, the old link has become inactive and I have to generate and send a new link to my clients and collegues.  This has been very frustrating as the clients think it is something we have done on our end.

[Walter]

Hi @markbroemer - welcome to our Community!

This definitely sounds strange; would you like me to reach out via your Dropbox associated email address so I can look into this with all of our tools at my disposal? 

In the meantime, could you forward me a screenshot of the error you get when you access the mentioned -now inactive- shared link? 

Thanks!

[markbroemer]

It's a 404 error - here is the now inactive link created earlier today that got broken after saving a new file over the original file:  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l3iqv2wlr457mhf/INVENTORY_DOCUMENT_-_FOR_INTERNAL_USE.pdf?dl=0

Looking at the version history of this file - prior to November 15, any files copied over the original were processed in Dropbox as an edit of the original document.  Starting November 15, the same action is causing the file in Dropbox first to be deleted and then the new version is created as a new file with a subsequent new public link.

[Walter]

I see. Thanks for the additional details Mart. 

Could you see if this is also happening on another browser or an incognito window with no extensions or plugins running?

If you're editing (overwriting) your file within your computer's Dropbox folder directly when you notice this happening, I'd really like to investigate further so please let me know if I could use the email address that's connected to your Community's profile to create a support ticket for you. 

Thanks once again Mart!

[markbroemer]

I have a ticket in with the Dropbox support team - I'll update here if I get any resolution to this problem.

[ajw1414]

Morning, that would be great.  I played around with the files and folder on dropbox.  Anytime I save any file within any folder, the links are changing. 

Previously the links had not been changing.  November 15th is the date we started to experience this issue as well so Mark has nailed describing the issue.  Please keep us updated.  Over 250 files linked to the old dropbox link.