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greta2's avatar
greta2
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago
Solved

renamed folder shows former name when shared

A folder has been renamed, from Diligence December 2020 to Diligence March 2021.

A new person has been invited to view the folder.

The link automatically generated by dropbox says the name of the folder is the former name, Diligence December 2020!

How do you ensure that the correct, updated name of the folder appears in the invitation?

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    5 years ago

    Yes, you would need to create a new folder, move all the files in to it  and then share that with everybody if you them to have that name. But, remember - they can change the name themselves... to anything they want.

     

    The reason it keeps the first name given is that anybody, at all, who has that shared folder can rename it or move it as they like. So you cannot then change the name yourself. 

9 Replies

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  • greta2's avatar
    greta2
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 years ago

    Thanks for your quick reply. I don't understand the purpose of renaming folders then! If I understand the suggestion solution correctly, it is necessary to create a new folder with the correct name and then copy all of the material from the old folder and all of its sub folders into the new space? 

    What is the purpose of renaming folders if no one is able to see the new name?

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    5 years ago

    Yes, you would need to create a new folder, move all the files in to it  and then share that with everybody if you them to have that name. But, remember - they can change the name themselves... to anything they want.

     

    The reason it keeps the first name given is that anybody, at all, who has that shared folder can rename it or move it as they like. So you cannot then change the name yourself. 

  • DaveNuck's avatar
    DaveNuck
    Helpful | Level 5
    5 years ago

    Wow..... Not good.   You may want to reconsider this.

    When I share a folder, I want it to look like it does for me.

    Just because I changed the folder name (weeks ago), my team should not get old information.

    This was kinda uncomfortable for me today.

  • dianekTRM's avatar
    dianekTRM
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    We had some real confusion in our organization because folder names had been changed (years ago) but when that folder was shared with someone new, it appeared to them under the OLD name.  I don't get how you can successfully share folders and files if each user can rename them to whatever they want.  We wasted a lot of time today trying to find things because it appeared under different names for different users.  How does an organization with multiple users make this work?

  • Kernow_Man's avatar
    Kernow_Man
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    Exactly!  I share a folder of song lyrics and chords with fellow band members, but when emails go out to tell shared recipients of recent changes it says "Frank & John's Song Sheets", even though Frank left two years ago !!!!  When I log in to Dropbox all folders show the correct names.  This is plain daft! 

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    3 years ago

    Kernow_Man wrote:

    When I log in to Dropbox all folders show the correct names.


    This is because anyone can rename a shared folder so it's relevant to them. If I created a folder that I was going to share with you I would name it Kernow_Man. When you receive that folder the name means nothing to you, so you can rename it to Rich or whatever you want so you know it's linked to me. Changing the name like that affects only you.

     

    If you want to change the name of a shared folder so it's the same for everyone, you need to create a new share with the name you want and invite everyone to the new share.

  • Kernow_Man's avatar
    Kernow_Man
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    If that's the only way to get rid of 'Frank' then I guess I'll have to do that...

    I still don't understand why there are NO folders in my Dropbox (and I'm the owner and administrator) that include the name 'Frank'.  It only appears when Dropbox sends emails to sharees (and me) about my having added something. So where is that hidden??

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    3 years ago

    Kernow_Man wrote:

    I still don't understand why there are NO folders in my Dropbox (and I'm the owner and administrator) that include the name 'Frank'.


    You must have renamed your copy the shared folder at some point.

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