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How can I download zip file WITHOUT file / folder structure

We have so much footage on our dropbox that we download for stock, and they are in multiple folders spread across thousands of folders

They are labelled perfectly to all appear in a search, but it's super annoying downloading them all and having them appear in a very long folder structure (it also stops downloading some because the file name becomes too long this way)

Is there a way to stop it doing this and just download what I want, into one folder instead of creating the paths?

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Accepted answers

Hannah

Hey @Dave4443, sorry to jump in here.

I'm afraid that this is not currently possible with Dropbox.

A workaround would be to sync your files using the Dropbox desktop app.

The app will sync the files in your account to a folder named 'Dropbox' on your hard drive, and nothing will be zipped.

And you can use selective sync to choose which folders you want to keep synced to the computer and which to have available only online.

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Megan

Hi @Dave4443, how are you today?

You mentioned that you download your content from Dropbox for stock. Do you use the website, or app to achieve that or maybe using a third-party app?

Also, in case you're using the web; do you download each folder individually? You also mentioned that it stops downloading, due to the file name being too long, can you let me know more about that, and any possible errors you might be getting?

In any case, whether you use the app, or the website the content will download with the folder structure you have in the account. Unless you choose to download each file individually from the web.

That way you can choose to save content the way you want to.

Keep me posted, and I'll be happy to share more info with you!

Dave4443

Download from the web because it's easier to search that way and I can delete stock once it's used easier as well.

I download multiple videos that are spread across multiple folders, so when zipping the folder dropbox keeps the file structure.

Say I have one video from Folder A - Folder C - Folder 3 - Video 1

and another from Folder B - Folder A - Folder 2 - Video 2

Then dropbox downloads both videos, but keeps this long folder structure in the zip folder (which is just a pain) and because of that, sometimes the folder structure becomes too long for windows to unzip

This becomes an issue especially when it's over 10 videos and I have to scour through a lot of folders to just find the videos I wanted to download 😞

So is there a way to download multiple videos at once, without it downloading the file structure as well? I'd rather batch download and NOT keep the folder structure, or is that not possible haha

Hannah

Hey @Dave4443, sorry to jump in here.

I'm afraid that this is not currently possible with Dropbox.

A workaround would be to sync your files using the Dropbox desktop app.

The app will sync the files in your account to a folder named 'Dropbox' on your hard drive, and nothing will be zipped.

And you can use selective sync to choose which folders you want to keep synced to the computer and which to have available only online.

Dave4443

I appreciate that but that still leaves the issue of things being spread around and doesn't make it much easier to sync and then find things again to unsync,

And I don't mind Zipped files, I'm just not sure why if I download a bunch of things from one folder, there is no folder structure saved in the zip file, but with multiple folders then numerous folder trees get saved and it's more difficult.

But I guess it's just how it works and there's no work around for it

danielk13

This! I hope this can be implemented, for specific searches and one-time-downloads of my own (older) files that I have set to online only, I prefer the web interface.
But if I download say 8-10 PNGs, having them each in a separate folder structure with a path 4-5 folders long is just a pain.