opening a .dropbox file

[Bill H.37]

I have received a file  with a .dropbox association. I opened it with wordpad and got  ------   {"tag": "dropbox", "ns": 73397816   what do I do with this now to access the file ?

[Robert S.]

what do I do with this now to access the file ?

You don't.

They aren't intended to be opened by the end user, in fact they shouldn't even be visible, .dropbox files are normally hidden system files which enable shared folders to work. 

[Bill H.37]

Thanks for that. Short and not very helpful. My problem remains, I have a file in my dropbox which is less than 1 KB and is the link to a 10MB  file which I need to access. Please tell me how to do this

Regards B Hanley

[Robert S.]

You can't.

To reiterate, .dropbox files are not intended to be opened by the end user.

Can you outline why you think you need to do this?

For information on the correct methods of sharing files and folders, see here:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/topics/sharing_files_and_folders

[Mark]

The file .dropbox is a database file used exclusively by Dropbox to work.

It indicates the folder is shared. If you delete it the folder becomes unshared. 

It does not contain any useable data at all. It has also not been shared with you - it has been created BECAUSE of the share, it is not *THE* share if that makes sense. 

[Bill H.37]

All sorted now .  Thanks for helping

Bill Hanley

[DaveC2]

*Bill H. : *one such file exists in the root folder of your dropbox, its purpose is to allow a client being linked up to detect if the existing dropbox folder is supplied is the dropbox folder of the account.

Other such files exist in the root folder of a share, the folder does NOT become unshared if the file is removed, at worst removing and tthen moving/renaming the folder will cause you to stop syncing its shared content, you will always remain a member of the share.

The files purpose is for the DB app to detect a post move/rename of the folder, and know the folder is the shared folder it used to have. (which it would have just lost track of when the old folder name disappeared following the move/rename).

The first instance of the file can not be used for much.

The second instance has a power user application, by recording the .DROPBOX file, and then removing the shared folder from the dropbox folder, the shared folder is no longer being synced to your account, and does not occupy your quota, but you are still a member of the share.

At a later date, a folder can be inserted into dropbox, with ONLY the .DROPBOX file from he share reproduced in it, and you will begin syncing the share again, and download all shared content.

[Bill H.37]

Hi Dave  Thanks for your reply. I have not used dropbox for a while and I made the mistake of looking for the file in my dropbox instead of opening the link I received. It is sorted now.

Thanks Bill Hanley

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community here.]