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Some shared links have expired on my Basic account, even though I didn't set an expiration date

Hi, I've added a few shared folders, some with music files, one with two image file, and three with a single image file each. The links to the three with a single image file have all expired, but ALL folders were set up the same way, at the same time, with no expiry. Why have the links to these three folders unexpectedly expired? Do I need to create three new folders, and re-upload the contents again? Thanks in advance for your advice.

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VAAust

Hi, I found the problem, and hopefully fixed it! The URL's were the shortened ones, instead of the longer ones... I can't remember if I saved the wrong ones, or they simply converted to the shorter ones within a week or two... though I'm sure I tested them whilst NOT logged in to my a/c... If it happens again, I'll come back to this thread and we can see if there is indeed an issue with the Dropbox website... thanks! 🙂

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Megan

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

The first thing I'd like for us to clarify, is if you directly shared these folders, or if you used a shared link for them.

I'm asking because in order to set an expiration date for a shared link on dropbox.com, you'd need to be using a Dropbox Professional, Standard, Advanced, or Enterprise account.

In addition, you'd need to manually add the expiration date on your end. Do other users get any errors when trying to access your content?

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

VAAust

Hi Megan, I used a shared link, so that only those who were sent the link could access that particular folder, and not see any of the others. I did NOT sent and expiry date, in fact I went in and made sure NONE of them had that on. I am on a free a/c anyway. I also checked that I hadn't exceeded my quota, and it's well and truely beneath the limit. It seems that all 4 folders that had .png files have 'expired', but those that had .wav files are still ok? Oh, and this morning I got a different message from one of the links, stating that there's been a system error and the team has been notified... I'll try to take a screen shot for you. It's all very strange indeed!

VAAust

Update, the one folder that had an error message this morning has been reinstated, but there are still 3 folders, each with a single .png file, that have 'expired'. If I've done something wrong I'd like to know so that I don't re-upload these files into new folders, only to have it happen again... Hope you can help...

Nancy

Hi from me too, @VAAust. This is odd indeed, as being on a free Basic account doesn’t allow setting expiration dates on your links anyways.

Can you send over a screenshot of what you see when trying to access one of those links via an incognito window on your browser instead?

VAAust

Hi, had to take a photo of the screen with my phone, as the red message disappeared when I tried to use Preview to take a screenshot... hope this helps you understand what's happening, and why three folders get this message, and all the others do not...

Nancy

Thanks for the screenshot! It looks like this error is about the Dropbox website, and not the shared link necessarily.

Can you send me one more screenshot of the shared link URL you’re getting this error for? I’d like to make sure there’s nothing wrong there.

VAAust

Megan

Awesome news @VAAust!

We'll be around in case you need us. Have a great Thursday!