cancel
Showing results forĀ 
ShowĀ Ā onlyĀ  | Search instead forĀ 
Did you mean:Ā 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

View, download, and export

Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

cancel
Showing results forĀ 
ShowĀ Ā onlyĀ  | Search instead forĀ 
Did you mean:Ā 

Re: New Zip File Behavior?

Is there a way to choose whether .zip files are previewing on the Dropbox website?

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

I'm a long time Dropbox user and today I went to check if some older links were still active that I had sent to a cleint. 

Most of the files are send out are zipped for various reasons. 

 

It seems that Dropbox will now unzip zipped files in the web browser so the end user can see what's in the zipped file.


Is this true? Is there a way to turn it off? One specfic workflow I use reqiires the zip file to remain zipped and could cause issues if the user has access to an unzipped version, especially on Dropbox.

72 Replies 72

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

Thanks for your feedback. I coudn't agree more.

It seems that whoever thought this was a good idea doesn't have much real-world worklfow experience.

 

 

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

Do you have any news on this? It seems that many people do not like this new feature and it's actually problematic in some cases.

I really think it needs to be reverted to the old behavior ASAP.


If anything, if you want to see into a zip file, it should be a special harder to find feature but keep the old way of a zip file being displayed as zipped with a simple download button as the default method.

morganw951
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

This is causing daily problems for our company which is globally using dropbox with roughly 200 employees (over seperate office accounts) and our largest clients at 1500+ employees. This specific issue is simply intolerable and has now put in motion the debate of which alternative solution to switch to, abandoning the use of dropbox. If there is any intention to correct this problem (not manually changing last digits of the links from 0 to 1) or at least bringing back a prominent, obvious download button alongside .zip archive links within the browser, please let us know asap, thank you.

Jane
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Hello again to all, I appreciate all the time you took to drop us a line- or more- about this change & how this has worked for you so far! 
 
Iā€™m just following-up on your comments, so as to confirm that Iā€™ve included all your feedback on my report internally, as weā€™re currently actively keeping track of our Forum conversations. 
 
Rest assured that your voice is heard via the Community; your comments are extremely valuable as we're always looking for ways to improve & your posts here help us better understand your needs. 
 
Thanks to everyone for using Dropbox & joining the conversation on our Forum! 

 


Jane
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

 

Heart Did this post help you? If so please give it a Like below. 
:white_check_mark: Did this post fix your issue/answer your question? If so please press the 'Accept as Best Answer' button to help others find it.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question! (
Questions asked in the community will likely receive an answer within 4 hours!)

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

Thanks for the update. I know this may seem like a good idea in principle but in a professional enviroment, it really dumbs down the Dropbox expereince.

Regardless of the industry, we zip files for a reason. It might be for integrity of the data, it might be so cleints can grab a bunch of files in one-click, or other reasons.

But, I can think of nothing good that has come from this new behavior. I unfortunately have years of work and tons of data tied up in my Dropbox account and while I can explore the idea of using another service and threaten to leave Dropbox, it would be a tough thing to do since I really like the rest of the Dropbox expereince quite a bit.

I would much prefer if Dropbox found a way to revert to the old behavior and if there is really a demand to see within zip files for some users, this should be something that can be turned on by the user or found in a menu.

Right now, it's too easy for the average file recipient to just start clicking away and wonder why they can't download the main zip file.

sthomas
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

I'm glad to see that other digital professionals commment and complain about this issue with zipped file uploads. I work as a remote graphic designer and when I post zipped files for clients and printers I do this with the intention of having them download the entire zipped file to their desktop so they can have a TRUE copy of the deliverable without changing directories and all files included. With this new Dropbox zipped folder files preview, clients and printers have told me they're confused on what files to download ā€” and that even some indivudal files won't open. Which is the ENTIRE reason why I was trained to zipp files in the first place so everything would be kept as-is and avoid transfer corruption issues.

I'm putting my vote in to also have this new feature changed or at least have a setting added that can GIVES THE DROPBOX USER THE OPTION TO "ONLY" HAVE ZIPPED FILES DOWNLOADED AND NOT PREVIEWED. 

I am using the file link workaround (changing the "dl=0" to "dl=1") when I send out links but this is ONLY a bandaid solution for sure. I hope by making this comment and everyone's complaiants, some response happens soon from Dropbox or I will need to switch to a new upload/download platform that considers digital professionals as a priority to their user group. 

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

Hi sthomas, Thanks for chiming in and I'm glad I'm not alone here. I am noticing that some of my zipped files are only allowing for download and some allow users to see inside them. I'm not sure if it's because some are older and some are newer, I haven't had time to look closer.

Either way. As you mentioned, in the professional world, there are valid reasons why we zip files and do not want people to be able to navigate inside them. It only confuses them as to why they can see inside but not download the internal files of a zip file.

It's not just to save space, it's to preserve ingetrity of the contents and allowing recipients to see inside the zip file can be a serious issue and in my opinion is completely useless otherwise.

JLR
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

Hi Jane,

You really didn't respond to the OP's questions and concerns. I too require a one-click download process, and do not want my clients getting confused by folder hierarchy before simply downloading everything they need.

Please advise what we can do to work around this new "feature."

Thank you,

JLR

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

@JLR wrote:

I too require a one-click download process


Read the entire thread. I already posted a method that provides a one-click download.

Justin P.2
Collaborator | Level 10
Go to solution

Hey Dropbox, sorry for the language but this behavior is [profanity removed by moderation] ING ANNOYING.

Please fix it ASAP.

Need more support?