Dropbox no longer overwriting files

Hi @aisb, welcome to our Community!

Can you let me know when this behavior started happening?

Also, what's the version of the app that you have installed on your iPad?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there.

Hello! It started happening about three days ago I think.
App version 278.2.2

I'm getting the issue on an iPad pro running the lates OS. On my laptop, it asks if I want to overwrite the existing file, but the iPad doesn't give me this option.

Hi, this is also the case for me. All was good through Tuesday morning. Later in the afternoon, the Save to Dropbox changed. It now showed a thumbnail of whatever I am saving and does not indicate if it’s overwriting an existing file (if it exists creates (x). The save also is very fast when before it took time depending on the size of the file.

Also when I’m Dropbox on the iPhone, there’s a longer delay of the saved file appearing. I have the current iOS Dropbox versions for both iPhone and iPad but so far only the iPhone is affected. The iPad continues to work as expected. I tried restarting the phone and logging out/in of Dropbox but this ‘new’ save continues to remain.

I save files to Dropbox on my IPad. Up until 5-7 days ago, if a file with that name already existed in Dropbox, it would ask if I want to overwrite it. I'd say yes, and the updated file was saved.

Now though, it doesn’t prompt me to overwrite the existing file in Dropbox. It simply creates a new file, appending (1) to the name. So previously I would save reading .xlsx, confirm the overwrite, and reading.xlsx was all I had in Dropbox. Now, it doesn’t prompt me at all, and I end up with reading.xlsx and the newer reading(1).xlsx. I am 99% sure his happened in the past, it was fixed, and here it is again.

dropbox app version is 278.2, iOS 15.3.1. The Dropbox app was updated arou date time this started happening; no iOS update in a while.

Any ideas what’s going on here?

Thanks.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/Dropbox-appending-1-to-file-name-on-upload/td-p/319111

Indeed, here it is from 2018

Hello guys, happy Monday!

I'd like to know a bit more about your workflow here, please.

How do you open your files? Do you use the Dropbox app, the Files app or maybe opening them directly in Illustrator? Let me know the steps that you take when you save content too.

That can be really helpful, and it'll shine some light on identifying exactly where the issue is located.

In Numbers in my iPad, I select reading.xlsx….Share….Export….Excel….and then choose Save to Dropbox. I love into Dropbox, it has the folder selected, and I choose Save. At this point, previously, it would ask if I want to overwrite and I would confirm. But now instead, it just saves with a (1) appended, resulting in both the original file and the new (1) version in Dropbox.

I usually open from Illustrator, then once I’m done editing, I re-export to Dropbox (it’s the same if I open from Files, and Dropbox doesn’t give me the option to open these files directly from Dropbox on my iPad). It used to just overwrite the old file, which is what I need. Now it gives me a new file with (1) on the end.

Most of my saving is done from Photos, selecting the item and choosing Save to Dropbox. From there it normally would list all the latest folders (no thumbnail preview) and I then save. If there’s an existing version, it prompts if I want to override it (this doesn’t occur now, it just saves and adds a (x) if filename exists).

Just updated to Dropbox 280.2 and the problem is still there.

Same. Updated Dropbox AND to the latest iOS 15.5 and still no change.

Hey everyone, happy Wednesday!

If any of you have a paid plan, can you try contacting our Support team about this, and opening a ticket? Once you do, you can reply back here, so I can locate the ticket on our system.

If you have any problems or issues when trying to create a ticket, please let me know and I'll be happy to reach out to you.

Cheers!

Hi, I opened up a ticket as this new saving behavior is now occurring on the iPad too as of tonight.

Thank you! I have now opened a ticket.

Well I got a reply back from support and it appears this is the new normal. The response that really surprised me is ‘the Overwrite/ Replace a File feature, has been removed.’ Overwriting a file is an expected feature on any file manager app like OneDrive or Windows File Explorer. The rationale for this is lost on me and makes for a messier file structure unless you check first and delete the existing file ahead of time. If this is an example of versioning, it’s a step backwards.

Wow, that's a terrible design change. Now we'll have to take extra steps on every save to first delete the existing file in Dropbox, save the new one, and then go back and rename the new one without (1). Awful. I wonder if they did any usability testng on that at all.

I actually asked for a rationale for this design change and the response so far is silence.

This is an example of what isn’t broken, fix it. And why would anyone want a thumbnail preview area of what you are saving (and taking up half the phone screen space rather than seeing additional folder choices). What I’m also now seeing is that folders might not come up automatically but rather be loading. I also don’t trust it saving so am constantly checking to make sure the file is there afterwards (many times it’s not visible immediately until seconds later).

A very poor update to something that has been consistently stable, at least for me, for many years.

Hi @Blackie1, how are you today?

You mentioned you've contacted our Support team about this, right? If so, can you provide me with a ticket number, in order for me to locate it on our system?

Let me know!

MoeandRob

Ever since the latest update on my iPad I can no longer save a file with the option to overwrite.

Hannah

Hey @Blackie1, did you get a chance to look for the ticket number Megan asked for?

As for you, @MoeandRob, I moved your post to this relevant thread.

Can you let me know a bit more about your situation?

Are you on the most recent version of iPad OS and Dropbox?

Any additional info you can give me, would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Yes, Dropbox has apparently fallen under the "new and different is always better" spell. Guess the product and engineering staff had a bit too much time on their hands so they redesigned something that didn't need it. What a shame. I have pondered getting a paid plan but with things like this I would never do it.

Hi, since it was confirmed not being able to overwrite files is the ‘new normal’, just leaving things as is unhappily. Hopefully this will change one day and the feature is reinstated (it should never been removed in the first place).

MoeandRob

Hi Hannah,

Using iOS 15.5. It’s on an iPad eighth generation. It also does the same thing on my phone which is an iPhone Max 10.

I tried on installing dropbox and reinstalling. This happened once in the past I think maybe a little over a year ago after an update. When the next update came around it worked properly again. It will upload the file but keeps the old file so I have to delete the old file to make sure I am updated. It won’t prompt me with (file already exists do you want to overwrite?)

I have spent the last month in the most infuriating dialogue with Dropbox staff regarding this issue. The first person told me about 4 or 5 times I need to open Illustrator files from the Dropbox app itself on iPad, even though this cannot be done. The second person said "everything points to this being a problem with Illustrator" even though I had said over and over that this is happening on multiple apps. Then they told me several times that I need to update my iPad, even though I had already said my iPad is up to date. Each email takes several days for them to respond, and each response ignores something I've already said, ignores something I've asked, provides illogical advice, or tells me to do something that Dropbox can't do.

I was told there was no reason why this should be happening, according to one Dropbox engineer.

Last word of advice was to contact each external app and tell them to fix it.

I don't think Dropbox staff understand how their own app works, and honestly I think the right advice is to switch to another service. I've never been so frustrated with a support team in my life.

jekkie

Hi, this is also the case for me.

Walter

Hi all, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

For anyone affected, would it be OK if we reach out via email to investigate a bit further?

I would be happy for another person to contact me, but I am now four weeks into an email conversation where two different people have been giving me incorrect information and ignoring important information from me, so I'm just going over the same nonsense over and over.

The latest is me telling them three times that I've already updated my iPad to 15.5 (came out weeks ago) but the issue is still happening, and the person tells me over and over that I'm on 15.4. It's not true. When I sent a screenshot showing I'm already on 15.5, they basically said "I can see you've now run the update, so the issue should be gone". It was already updated! I have to wait days for each of these irritating responses. I'm honestly about to explode.

Please send someone who has more intel than "update the iPad" or "contact the other apps".