Ending support of public folder

[ae2rigc]

Just heard from dropbox that support for the public folder is ending.

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As a result, we’ll soon be ending support for the Public folder. Dropbox Pro users will be able to use the Public folder until
September 1, 2017. After that date the files in your Public folder will become private, and links to these files will be deactivated. Your files will remain safe in Dropbox.

If you’d like to keep sharing files in your Public folder, you can create new shared links. Just make sure to send the new URLs to your collaborators.

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It is one of the most useful features of the service for me as I use it to get links to single files that I can send to people without setting up shared folders and requiring them to have dropbox accounts.

(Save file to my public folder locally, syncs, right click, get publick link, paste. Doesn't get any easier than that.)

It's also useful for bb style forum posts where you can link to images with an easy tag.

With the public folder support being removed, is there going to be an alternative solution to allow easy public sharing of single files?

[Ross D.2]

Perect, thanks!

[JackDemirgian]

I submitted this but it must have been removed by Dropbos, 2nd try

Let me get this straight. Your customers are stupid because they couldn't figure out that you were going to screw them so they deserve to get screwed.

Hmmm! I wonder how many of your stupid customers are stupid enough to keep paying you to screw them. I guess you think they will. I wonder who is really stupid.

[SVPA S.]

It is much more comfortable to have a public folder to be honest than selecting links, changing the end and pasting in my e-mail. 

I do not see the need to open a browser to download an attachment from my thunderbird email. 

That is why I closed a paid dropbox account from another person in my company a couple of years ago, and that is why I will switch to owncloud if this decision goes on in September. 

About the android app, is getting worst and worst you need a few clicks to open a .pdf file or an .odt with your favourite program instead of the one that dropbox has.

Not listening to your customers is not a very good policy. 

[treebeard]

Like almost everyone else here, I can't believe dropbox is doing this. It's actually the only reason I have dropbox. I guess it will be see you later dropbox for me.

I can't even imagine trying to convert all my existing public folder links. So much easier just to move to a different solution.

[dremodaris]

What is particularly incomprehensible is that the Share button (which is what we are supposed to use instead of the public folder) will *to this day* produce the old-style public folder links when used for files that are in the public folder. I unwittingly created such a link two days ago, passed it anonymously to an anonymous recepient, and am presently notified that I will lose my only contact point. Great work, Dropbox!

[gbm]

So today I received another email informing me that the Public links will end soon. 

Thanks for the reminder Dropbox!

I do need to get on and draft the automatic message I will send to users on the many forms I post on when links fail. The message will explain clearly that the problem was caused by Dropbox and suggest that everyone reading the message would be advised to use a different company for file sharing because Dropbox  is not to be trusted.

This may not do me any good, but Dropbox deserves to get a lot of NEGATIVE advertising because of their actions.

[joemck]

Maybe the glut of users insisting on using a deprecated, old feature instead of the shiny, bloated, Javascript-filled replacement should have acted as a hint that the old way was simpler and better. They need to provide an adequate replacement if they want users to switch.

And manually editing the links after copying them is not a good solution. Furthermore "?dl=1" makes a link that causes a download if opened in a separate tab. We can no longer make *normal* links. The choices are a cruddy Javascript abomination with an ugly frame and chat that performs badly on mobile and can't be wgetted, or a link that can't be viewed directly in a browser.

With a public link, you can embed it in a forum post, post it to a chat where people will click it, view it on a phone, and retrieve it from the command line with wget. All with one link, and without editing it manually. THAT is why we continued using the old way for 4 and a half years. "Upgrading" feels like switching from a nailgun to a rock tied onto a stick.

[Photo O.]

I have over 1300 images in my Public Folder shared across hotlinks all over the internet, on websites, forums and blogs, many of theme are shared in multiple links. The end of the Public folder will be an absolute disaster for me. I will have thousands of links to chase down and it will take me months of work to do so. Dropbox was supplied to make my life easier, not harder.

**bleep** you Dropbox. This is yet another example of developers and software engineers that just cannot resist the temptation to muck around with things that are already working.

If I cant trust Dropbox to keep my links safe, how can I ever trust them to keep my files safe?

[Photo O.]

Has anyone from Dropbox actually addressed our concerns, or are they just ignoring us and hoping we will all go away?

[Chris R.]

I've prepared this for anyone to use, everywhere here, and everywhere on the net. Please copy it and post everywhere :

• Dropbox are about to kill off part of the internet.

  Explanation:

  Newer users may not realise that Dropbox once included a “Public” folder for shared links. Everything in that folder got a unique url which could be copied and given to any other individual(s) as a direct link to that content, or which could be embedded into another forum post so that - for example - an image would appear.

  Dropbox ended support for a Public folder for new users some years ago, but existing users were assured they could continue to use theirs. There are now millions of links on the internet which are from Dropbox users’ Public folders.

  Now Dropbox are discontinuing the Public folder for ALL users. If this wasn't bad enough (after the promises which were made), Dropbox are refusing to ‘grandfather’ (i.e. preserve) the links that are already out there, even after they end support for all Public folders. All such links will, overnight, become ‘dead’, wherever they are on the internet.

  Dropbox refuse to explain WHY they will not preserve existing links, refuse to enter into discussion about this, and refuse even to explain WHY they won't discuss it.

  (If you share unease or even outrage about this, copy and paste this message all over these forums and wherever else you go; Share on Facebook, LinkedIn; post a link on Twitter.)