Dropbox files no longer inherit folder permissions

[rjwb]

Within my Dropbox folder, I have sub-folders with different Windows ACL permissions. Up until recently, whenever Dropbox synced a file it inherited its folder permissions perfectly.

Now it no longer does. It overrides the folder permissions and sets all file permissions to something completely different - Full Control for admins and Read/Read & Execute for users.

Is there any way to get back to the old days - when Dropbox respected the inheritance of ACL permissions to all files in each folder?

[melodramatic]

I am also having this issue. Have been using this system for many years and over the last few months have been struggling to work out why the permissions have suddenly been failing. Would also like to put my vote in for Dropbox to deal with this issue.

[melodramatic]

will be doing the same.

[LGC]

this is catastrophic for us as well. bad move dropbox!

[pwc]

@volfman and @melodramatic take a look at my email template from earlier in this thread (and the thread in general), suggest you contact Dropbox support to voice your frustration.

[volfman]

@pwc  I already have a ticket open. 

[Brian1]

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@Walter wrote:

Hi @SLWelsh - welcome to the Dropbox Community!

What you notice is now expected as we implemented a fix in a new version of the Dropbox desktop application that ensures both consistent folder icons and file/folder permissions for items residing within the Dropbox folder.

If you have files or folders in the Dropbox folder with custom permissions (such as custom POSIX permissions or BSD flags), these may be removed to ensure the file syncs to other devices without any issues.  

I hope this clears things up and we're always a post away if you have any additional questions. 

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Please elaborate:

1) As of what specific version was this change made, and why wasn't it highlighted in the release notes?

2) What else do you consider a "custom" permission? You mentioned two things, both outside of the Windows realm, POSIX and BSD, that wouldn't be in play for us, so I'd like to know all the possible scenarious you mean.

3) "May" be removed?  Explain further.

What we've been seeing lately in isolated cases, definitely with files that have synced recently from one site to another, is users (in the Security permissions list of a given file in Properties) being removed and the list merely being left with SYSTEM and Administrators, or similar. We then need to fix this manually and hope it doesn't happen again.

I don't want to open a case. I just want to see this fully documented.

[ATCO]

Fantastic!! This solved my issues. Now it keeps my file permissions 🙂

[Brian1]

@Walter, dealing with this isn't fun. We need some answers. Do you have them?

Update: I found the master thread for this stupid issue, so I'll be continuing there:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Files-folders/Dropbox-files-no-longer-inherit-folder-permissions/td-...

[Brian1]

Glad I finally found the "master" thread on this dingbat feature, which is not only poorly conceived but not communicated, a deadly combination.

Incidentally, the issue also happens if you create the file on the web, once it syncs down. You don't even need two machines to reproduce the problem.

I'll submit the complaint, implement the workaround, and hope for the best with a future release.

[RAR_Systems]

When you modify a file the security properties change to others and are not respected, how can I fix this?