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Forum Discussion
Re: Ending support of public folder
TL; DR: Please listen to your users, and change your mind about killing the Public folder!
Dear Dropbox,
I just received notice that you'll be discontinuing the Public folder feature next year. Could you please explain why you are doing so?
I've been using this handy feature ever since I first started with Dropbox many years ago. It's very convienient to simply drop in a file, and grab the URL with a single click. Using your "Share Links" feature takes more steps and is not as frictionless an experience.
I have over 300 files in my Public folder, and it would be impractical to manage all of them as shared links. The tooling you provide stinks. e.g. There are places in your product where it simply throws up a dropdown of all your shared items. Good luck digging through hundreds of entries for the one you want in a tiny little UI element like this (taken from your Support system):
Searching and filtering are badly needed, along with the ability to maintain hierarchy (or at least some kind of tagging/grouping) when creating / viewing / managing links. I already get all of this for free by simply using the Public folder and my everyday desktop shell.
One of the key things I use my Public folder for is to house assets for posts I make to forums, bulletin boards, etc., particularly when the system I'm posting to doesn't support images. I put the images or files I want to share in my Public folder, and post the link (or insert the image via URL) as content in my post. I used this as a convenient alternative to uploading the files to my FTP server. My intent was for these shared links to be reasonably permenant (at least so long as I pay my Dropbox bill).
The links are still out in the wild web today, and in some cases I am simply not able to update them. e.g. Often I would use TinyURL to obfuscate the user id portion of my Dropbox link (at least from casual users / web crawlers), and to provide a more human-friendly URL. Those links cannot be changed once created. In other cases I no longer have access to the forum system, or if I do, they don't allow editing of old posts. But the content is still up there for the world to see and click, and on a regular basis is still useful to the community I shared it with.
Now you're telling me that on September 1, the lights go off and all those links will go dead. Despite the fact that I'm continuing to pay my bill.
One of the things I hate most on the internet is Dead Links. How often has a web search led you to an old forum post that would nail down the answer to a question you have, if only the images didn't all come up as "Image not found"?
When I share content, I make an effort to only use services from providers I trust who will keep that content where I put it indefinitely (or at least until I'm no longer around to care). It was a big deal and leap of faith, moving from my FTP server to using your software instead. I trusted you. You broke that trust. And now you're going to make me look like a fool on every single forum where I included content from my Dropbox.
I tried Shared Links out when you first introduced them, and wasn't impressed. In addition to requiring more cognitive overhead by the end user to utilize them, and the poor tooling described above, I found the user experience for people I was sharing content with to be unacceptable. Instead of simply clicking the link I sent them to directly download the file, they are taken to a Dropbox webpage where they need to perform more clicks and/or suffer an HTTP Redirect to get at the file. This breaks certain workflows where my intent is to simply provide a direct link.
At one point you even tried to use my links to drive user adoption, by making it look and feel like the person had to create a Dropbox account before gaining access to my content. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but it was quite frankly a sleazy thing to do.
I generally share content in my Public folder with individual users or within small communities focused on a particular topic I'm interested in. I'm careful not to use the feature in a manner that would generate "high-traffic" or break your ToS. I'm just an everyday, technically-savvy fellow who finds your Public folder extremely convenient.
I'm sure there are others out there using the Public folder in various ways to make their lives better. In fact, a lot of people feel the same way I do:
I can only imagine the aggravation it will cause folks all over the web when September hits and the lights go out all over corners of the internet.
I urge you to keep the Public folder alive.
If I can't change your mind, then I beg you to at least give us an easy way to migrate all our existing Public folder items into shared links in a manner that retains their current "legacy" URL's.
Note: For anyone reading, this entry was originally in the form of a Feature Request which overnight got upvoted to a Top 10 spot on the company's tracker. After a mention on Slashdot, Dropbox expunged the request and interleaved the content into this discussion thread instead.
85 Replies
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Seconded!
Between this and the upcoming removal of the HTML-rendering I am seriously considering cancelling my Pro account with DropBox and just paying for my own (well, cloud hosted) server and using another sync app to keep it up to date. It would have more features that way as I could also host HTML content on it!Addendum for other users like me:
- I'm told you can turn shared links into direct links by changing "dl=0" to "dl=1" in the URL. It would be nice if there were an account setting to make that default.
- I realize there's a security concern around the existing Public folder, namely that adversaries can attempt to reverse engineer your folder structure and filenames to gain access to other files in your Public folder. I'm OK with that limitation (in fact, in some cases that's exactly how I want it to work). I simply make sure a) folder names in my Public folder are unique enough to make this unlikely, and b) not to put content in my Public folder that is so sensitive I would care if someone were successful in this attack.
I also contacted Dropbox a few years ago when they first "turned off" the Public folder by default on new accounts (2012?), to ask if there were other security concerns (e.g. from having my User ID number publicly viewable). They didn't identify any.
I think this topic hit a chord. There's some more discussion on Reddit, in the Dropbox forums on yCombinator's HackerNews, and around the web.
- I'm told you can turn shared links into direct links by changing "dl=0" to "dl=1" in the URL. It would be nice if there were an account setting to make that default.
This is very distressing. The public folder is the ONLY reason I use DropBox. For five years I have been posting graphics and sound files to a public forum (involving musical instruments) by linking to my public folder. These posts are still available and are continually accessed. I will have to find and change five years worth of posts. Additionally, there is a document I have created for work that I periodically update. The header includes the words "for most recent revision, see:" and then a custom "tinyurl" of the link to the file in my public folder. I will not be able to use the same custom tinyurl for a new link, so if the public folder goes away, it will make a large mess at work. Please reconsider the decision to kill existing links to files in public folders. I can't see how such a decision "improve(s) the Dropbox sharing experience."
I agree also! I use my public folder daily and my links are connected to my blog. I will be devastated if the 'lights go out' as I've got blood, sweat, and tears invested in it. My blog has a search tool and my readers are able to pull up old files that I want to remain available. Is there anything that can be done to prevent existing links from being lost when Drop Box makes the change? If it must happen, can it just effect future links and not existing ones? Please?
Well said!
I agree completely, I can't even begin to imagine how catastrohic this decision will be for individuals, professionals and businesses that have been actively using the public folder since there is NO feasible way to replace ALL the links created and shared by heavy users of the Public Folder.
This could have profound (and costly) business implications for many of Dropbox's Pro (professional) users, and I sincerely hope Dropbox will consider the terrible impact of this decision.
Morever, this breach of trust is disconcerting at best -- for both professional and personal users alike.
In fact, this decision alone may provide sufficent grounds for a HUGE migration away from Dropbox to other, more trustworthy service providers.
I, for one, may well be part of that migration.....
I know right? The public folder has been an essential piece to my business and art deals, so why kill it off even if shared links are going to be a thing? I don't understand what is the logic and reason for removing Public and making it private. It's fallacy I tell you. Dropbox, keep the Public folder public accessible. Again I state, taking Public and making it private is completely unnecessary. This is not an improvement but rather a downgrade.
This is an exceptionally poor decision. Shared links load slowly, take more effort to produce, require more management, and basically suck all around.
I only use Dropbox for two things: redundant, off-site file storage, and public links. Apart from destroying hundreds, if not thousands of links I've sent to people over the years--many of which exist in forums and such that people still read--this completely obviates the whole point of the Dropbox service.
Public files are so simple; it works like a file server, but without having to run a file server on your home computer. Things in the public folder are viewable; things outside are not. This sort of divine simplicity cannot be replicated with some bogus, social-media-style sharing feature. The public folder reduces the complexity of sharing files to that of posting flyers on a bulletin board; the sharing-style feature creates a mess of files amidst your box--which are shared? Which are visible? Which need to be changed? Which can remain the same? Which should be updated? I keep tens of thousands of small files in my dropbox; well over a thousand are in the public folder. I don't expect I lie particularly far to the end of the bell curve, either; anyone with photo collections or automatically generated files or an extensive correspondence or a software project or whatever will have a boatload of files.
To say I am disappointed vastly understates my feelings. If this development goes through, I will be closing my Dropbox account permanently, and finding another service. Mind, you, I doubt I'll find one anywhere near as good as the Public folder--there's a reason I've stayed with Dropbox for so many years.
This is a terrible decision! Why are you doing this, Dropbox?!
I've got hundreds of links in my public folder for university courses that I've been teaching for years. It will be a massive inconvenience for me (to say the least) if all of a sudden every one of those links is dead.
Please re-think this.
What would be the point for anyone to recommend using Dropbox to friends or colleagues now?
I certainly can't think of any, and my nearly maxxed-out sharing bonuses (I have a free account, but it is 14gb strong) suggests that I have brought you more than my share of new users - quite a few of those are paying.
I only use it for the public folder on forums, for hosting small images or videos as part of tutorials and assistance to people working on thier cars. I make nothing from this other than good karma. Thanks for spoiling it for everyone.
FYI: For the free users, we get booted 6 months earlier than the paying users. So you don't get a whole lot for that big sack you are paying.I have 30,662 Files (pdf) in 7,844 Folders all linked in my public folder to my blog https://PTAB.US I just switched to google drive, so will be porting these over between now and September 16. 2017. I have been with dropbox since 2012. so long...
signed,
unhappy pro user
This is a horrible decision. Breaking links all over the web, and the file sharing is horrible. I don't need Dropbox to be Basecamp, with a comment interface on my files... i just want a link to my files. That's it.
I understand that public image hosting is not a terribly profitable business, but the public folder was literally the sole purpose I and also almost everyone else I know who uses Dropbox chose the service. This news means that they will cancel their subscriptions and now have to go and investigate this service's competitors to see if any provide the feature you are now dropping, as well as having to put a great deal of work in to now transfer all of their previous hyperlinks to new addresses.
I would deeply urge the owners of Dropbox to reconsider. This sidelines the product from one of great utility to one only particularly suitable for creating backups of important documents, something I would get almost the same utility from if I just bought a cheap external hard drive and carried it around with me.
- Like other users already posting here, I strongly urge Dropbox to reconsider and keep it as is now. Otherwise, one of the many reasons for using Dropbox & sharing with others will soon be history; and, cease to exit ... will soon have few, if any reasons, to continue using Dropbox. There are thousands of shared files, mostly graphics/pictures in my public folders (2 account, managed separately, that I link to forums for sharing with others - migrating them to other cloud storage is possible but a pain, but it can be done if needed & time-consuming. In doing so, Dropbox will be written off by yours truly and many others as it has continue to give exposure & net traffic to the site & app across mulitple platforms, including Linux.
Please reconsider this move. I *love* dropbox. But I have 1000's of images and files spread out all over the intenet. You're really going to make me looks like a horse's ass when people pull up some tutorial post, or something, and all my images are gone. PLEASE reconsider this.
This is a terrible decision! Why are you doing this, Dropbox?!
I've got a hundreds of links in my public folder for using in apps for years. It will have a lot of work to change those links and they have some structure that help me in keep the information up to date.
Very bad decision. Let's find another solution !
Without the Public Folder, Dropbox is totally useless to me. Guess I'll have to find some place that doesn't routinely screw over their userbase as Dropbox is doing.
I agree with all of the above. My main reason for using Dropbox is to make files from my Public folder viewable to anyone. It looks like I'll have to move to a competitor, which is sad because up till now I've thought Dropbox is really great.
Dear Dropbox,
you was a great company.
But now i'm moving to OneDrive, because i don't see any reasons to stay on Dropbox anymore (public folders was one of them). And i don't like to use many services.
Anyway, thanks for so many good years!
My main use case for files in my public folder was to get access to a link that I could share publicly and permanently. So, I have shared links in different places, and your suggestion that I simply generate new links and re-share them everywhere they have been shared previously is impractical and surprisingly un-empathetic for Dropbox.
I would personally be satisfied here if you could find a way to keep existing links active. You might be able to make this happen by mapping or forwarding existing public links to corresponding "shared" links.
Thanks.
I second all the other comments here, my sole use of Dropbox is to have a repository of images/resources in the Public folder and links to those used in forums and other such services. This decision seems to kill that usage altogether, which is very bad for me. Please reconsider.
I must change 8 apps changing a lot of logic and code ! I'm reallly going to find another solution ... impossible use the Dropbox alternative solution ....
I agree with everything said above.
I've shared hundreds of files in forum posts thanks to a public folder. All this will become dead links.
I can't imagine a service I pay for can make such an arbitrary decision, which is just stopping a service I'vee been usign for years.
I'm now seriously considering moving from dropbox to another system (probably hosted by myself).
This is very disappointing and ruining the trust build since years.
Please fix this! There are countless users who have been using the public folder to post images and files in blogs and forums. These aren't just worthless jokes and memes that nobody will miss if you flip the switch and break all of them. These are often valuable resources that users have created and entrusted to you to retain and keep online.
If we can't trust you not to screw with our old links, why should we trust that new links we make will last any longer? For that matter, why should we trust files to be preserved?
seconded. As has been mentioned many times over now. files in the public folder are linked in many forums, updates can be done in dropbox without destroying the link. Destroying the link will render 100s of posts useless on countless fora. Don't do this!
