what is cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url

[Charles D.23]

I recently had all my files in a shared folder deleted.  I was able to go in and restore them all, but in the process found one suspicious file, which I did not restore which was "cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url".  Does anyone know what that might be?

Next to all my deleted files was "Dale".  One of my users is Dale, but he says it wasn't him?

[camrob]

your "temporary" issue has been happening in my business account for almost a year now, only it actually destroys the files I have dropped in as far as we can tell: it converts the files we have saved into a cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url file, and my files disappear compeltely when it does. The link goes nowhere. 

We have contacted customer service several times over the past year about this, then it seems to go away for a while.  A few of the files have been restored now, yet it continues to happen, as recently as Friday (3 days ago). This issue has never been resolved for us. This time it, unfortunaltely, deleted ("converted") files for a time sensitive project for over a week, and added about 10 hours of work (and expense). This is still not resolved. I just emailed dropbox Customer Service again sicne there was no reply to my past 3 emails with links to the affected Folders from Friday's problems. Is there something we are doing on our end that is causing this? If so, I am not sure why CS wouldn't tell us. 

Then here is what happened today when i click on a Word doc file that showed as successfully loaded:

.lnk files can’t be previewed

New Here Page FW May 2017 Website - revision 2.lnk · 1.29 KB

This seems to be a new glitch. 

Any suggestions? 

[Mark]

.lnk files cannot be previewed because they are not files as you havent actually uploaded the file, you've uploaded the shortcut to the file (from Windows) instead of the file.

Also, please note sending multiple emails to support may slow down your reply as it can move you back to the back of the queue. Please remember that support does not work weekends so you need to give them time to reply. You can track tickets via http://dropbox.zendesk.com

[camrob]

The multiple emails were providing the information that was requested. CS insisted that I send the files and folders that were being converted. Since this happened several more times Friday, I sent each of these, again, as requested, even though it was more work on my part.  But it is interesting that you would push customers to the end of the que if they have multiple concerns. 

Never dealt with this before at DB, nor do I want to begin. I followed the same process as always: 

.lnk files cannot be previewed because they are not files as you havent actually uploaded the file, you've uploaded the shortcut to the file (from Windows) instead of the file. 

[Mark]

You may have followed the same procedure as always, however, that does not get around the fact that you've not actually uploaded the file. You've uploaded a shortcut to the file.

It will never open because there is no 'file' there - its simply a shortcut.

You need to follow the shortcut on your computer and upload the files.

[YeahMe]

This is happening with even more frequency and driving me absolutely nuts. I am not dragging or dropping anything. Sometimes it happens when I have Dropbox in a separate browser window or Dropbox is the only open tab in the only open browser.  I'm not copying anything or dragging anything. I just don't get it. I wish this was fixed. I'm tired of deleting these stupid #cfl.dropboxstatic files as they pop up.

[maverickmartin]

This got un-fixed. I had a user create 3 of these cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url files yesterday.

[Rich]

@RichardDBX

[Nashfreesmeyer]

I did the same thing. tested and verified it over and over. It seems to be a creation when you are trying to click and drag the picture instead of just using the side bars to move

[Jane]

Hey Nashfreesmeyer, we’d like to walk in your shoes for a while & see your perspective on the matter, thanks for posting on the Dropbox Community! 

Could you include a step-by-step description of the steps you’re following? Incidentally, do you experience the same behavior across browsers? Any detail (& visuals) you could send over would be very helpful, so as to make sure to follow-up with you as closely as possible. 

Thanks in advance for your cooperation & I’m looking forward to your next reply!

[YeahMe]

Is there a way to turn this feature off?  This happens to me even when I have Dropbox minimized. I'm not purposely dragging and dropping anything. I'm deleting at least 4 to 5 of these cfl.dropboxstatic.com.url files a day.  I see the purpose of this but I don't need it.  It is driving me absolutely nuts and cluttering up my folders.