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View Only on Shared Folder. How to change my permissions?

Hello, my friend sent me a folder but he doesn't have the option to allow me to "edit", only to "view."

I want to be able to make changes to this folder but have no idea how...

I have a business account through the agency I work for but I don't think I have a personal account of my own... could that be the problem?

This friend is not related to my agency at all.

Thanks for your help!

Pierre.

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mjguy

How do I unlock a folder, its a read only folder. Everything in the folder is read only and I can't save.

Walter

Hey there @mjguy - thanks for posting your question here!

I am not sure this falls under my scope of expertise since locking folders into read only state is not a Dropbox feature rather than your computer's Operating System.

Having said that now, I'd still like to assist with this.

If on a Mac device:

Select the file or folder you want to unlock from the Finder.

Go to the File menu and choose “Get Info” (or hit Command+i)
Look under 'General' and click the 'Locked' checkbox so that it's un-selected.

If on a Windows device:

Right-click the file or folder icon.
Remove the check mark by the Read Only item in the file's Properties dialog box. The attributes are found at the bottom of the General tab.
Click OK.

I hope you'll find this helpful and please let me know if there's anything else I could help with. Thanks!

ryanmuir

didnt work for me, OS automatically changes file back to "Locked"

Walter

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with this @ryanmuir.

Just to make sure we're on the same page now, could you elaborate a tad on the matter that seems to be troubling you and, if possible, forward me a screenshot or two so I can have a visual of the matter at hand too?

I'm guessing that you're seeing a permissions issue there but I'd like to be sure about this before I send you any troubleshooting steps.

Thanks a bunch and welcome to our Community!

Trailhouse

I'm having the same issue. All of my Dropbox folders are read-only. I right-click on the top folder and change it to not read-only. It shows going through all the files and turning them to not read-only. The I check the folder properties again and they're all read-only again. I've done this several times.

I've also checked my user permissions and all of the accounts on this computer (Windows 10) has full access.

Walter

Hi @Trailhouse; thanks for joining our discussion here and sorry to hear about this.

May I have you try to fix the permissions of your files via our desktop app's preferences to see if this improves matters at all?

Here are the steps:

1. Make sure the Dropbox desktop application is running

2. Click on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and then click your profile picture or initials

3. Select 'Preferences' or 'Options'

4. Click on the 'Account' tab, and then click in the window under the tab (just anywhere will do)

5. Hold down the 'alt+H' keys

6. Click on the 'Fix Permissions' button

7. You may be prompted for your a username and password, this is your computer login credentials, not your Dropbox account ones.

If the above steps don’t resolve your issue though, please repeat steps 1 to 5, but at step 6, this time click on the “Fix Hardlinks” button.

Please note that if you use “Fix Permissions” syncing will start back over so after attempting that, please allow for a few hours to pass and let me know of any updates.

Thanks!

Trailhouse

I have completed these steps, but the issue continues. The Dropbox folders all show as Read Only. When I uncheck it at the top level folder, it runs through unlocking all the files. Then when I reopen the folders, they are all read-only again.

Walter

Thanks for keeping me in the loop @Trailhouse; could you also post a screenshot of this so I can have a visual too?

Also, if you'd like to look further into this with account and device specific information, you can contact our support team.

In any case, keep me posted!

mcwhamster

Hi, I have recently started having exactly the same problem, where my Dropbox folders on Windows 10 are set as read-only meaning I'm unable to save over the top of existing file. I have tried all of the options above, but the folders and files always instantly revert back to read-only. Please could I have some help? Many thanks.

Jay

Hi @mcwhamster, thanks for posting on the Community!

In order to look into this matter further, could you try contacting the support team directly?

Once you get the ticket ID from the automated response, please let me know!

singyee

hi, i have the same problem as well help

Jay

Hi @singyee, try contacting the support team directly via the support link on this page!

Megan

Hi @PierreSchlum, let's jump right into this!

I don't think your account plan could be related to the folder's permissions.

Is the shared folder you mentioned visible to you when you access your account's sharing tab? Did your friend try out the steps mentioned here, in order to change your permissions?

And if he did, what was the problem he came across, when trying to give you editing permissions?

Let me know more!