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Maintain file and folder permission during a copy

I need a way to maintain all file and folder permissions while cleaning up my Dropbox. Currently when I move files or folders it replacing the permissions I had set previously. What is the best way to maintain the security set on the original folder during the copy process? Is there a copy with permissions option?

Please email me at [email address removed] if you have suggestions.

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Elixir

Hello @biglickProfile, which operating system are you using? If you are on Windows (or macOS), and copying to non-NTFS formatted (or non APFS, HFS formatted in case of macOS) drive, you might lose some attributes. If you are on linux and you can try using cp with -p flag to preserve permissions or use rsync with -a flag.

biglickProfile

Elixir, we are wanting to move in Dropbox, for example making an (Archive or Old) folder where we can move the files in to while we are cleaning up the Dropbox space, then move off or delete once we determine the need. I do not want to just move them to a google workspace or windows before I have time to clean up some. Can we not move with in Dropbox and maintain security?

Elixir

Sorry, I might have misunderstood your issue. Are you talking about the maintaining Dropbox shared folder permissions (I thought operating system read-write-execute permissions for user, group, and others)? In case of Dropbox shared folder permissions, if you copy and paste the folders, I think it won't maintain the permissions. But if you move a shared folder inside a non-shared folder, it should maintain the permissions. You cannot however move a shared folder inside another shared folder.

biglickProfile

Yes, The point was maintaining the permission inside of dropbox. So the key is to move it to a new folder but you can not share that new folder? That doesn't work too well. I will see what options that helps me solve. and continue to strive forward.

Elixir

The rule inside Dropbox folder is: you cannot put a shared folder inside another shared folder. However, you can organise multiple shared folders inside a non-shared folder (you can move/drag-and-drop shared folders inside a non-shared folder). Once you create a shared folder, dropbox treats it as a top-level folder. The shared permissions you set for this folder applies to every folder/file under it. You cannot set separate permissions for a shared folder and a sub-folder under it.

In your case, you are trying to free up space in Dropbox, that means moving shared folders out of Dropbox. I am not aware of any builtin Dropbox method to maintain share permission in such case. If you are comfortable to work with developer APIs, it is possible to export permissions of a shared folder. Later you can make API calls to share the folders and apply the same rules. You can check out the developer docs here https://developers.dropbox.com/dbx-sharing-guide

Acez

Copy or move of a directory into another directory, clears permissions and sets new permissions according the directory where you copied/moved.

This isn't always usefull/desired: there should be an option to choose between this behaviour or to just copy permissions as they are already set. Or is there such a feature somewhere I can't find?