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Force render issues (raw=1) and shared links won't work for hosting.

aRealHumanBartender

images were perfect on all browsers until yesterday afternoon - what is the fix or is this a dropbox issue?

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lisadbx

We are rolling out a fix for issues with raw=1 and dl=1 links that started recently. Please try again and let us know if it's still not working.

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sub-solar-studio

Hi,

I have a client who hosts a large number of files on dropbox for users to download through our Webflow site.

Currently, we're using the approach of adding dl=1 to force a download upon a user clicking a button, as documented here.

However, recently the behaviour has changed for Dropbox folders. When our users click the button a new tab opens which directs to Dropbox and then the download starts. For our downloads which are a single PDF, the behaviour is still working as it did previously (the user taps download, the download starts automatically with no new tab)

Is there a reason for this new behaviour with Dropbox folders? Can it be subverted? Is there a workaround or is this something the Dropbox team can revert to the previous behaviour?

Thanks for your help!

Jay

Hi @sub-solar-studio, thanks for messaging the Community!

Could you clarify exactly what you mean by a new tab directing you to Dropbox?

Do you get this behavior when viewing the link in an incognito window on it's own, and not via your site?

This will help me to assist further!

sub-solar-studio

Hi Jay,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

So, the previous behaviour we had which uses the dl=1 approach on a URL, and what happens when you click the link to download our PDFs, is that the user clicks the download button on our site, and then the download starts. There's no navigating to a different page, no other tabs pop up, the user stays on the same page, etc.

Now, the new behaviour that occurs for links that point to our Dropbox folders (still using the dl=1 approach) is that they will click the download button, a new, blank tab opens and is switched to (which has the Dropbox URL string inside it) and then the download starts—leaving the user with an empty open tab they need to close to return to our site.

This did not used to be the behaviour, as we've had this in place for quite some time. It used to be that the Dropbox folder download links behaved in the same way as the file links when appended with 'dl=1'

I hope that helps clarify. Let me know if I can provide more clarity, i'm happy to upload a video to explain it if that helps.

Thanks for your help
Oli

Hannah

Hey @sub-solar-studio, if you open the Dropbox link directly from your browser and not through your website, does it force-download the file?

Can you also take a look at the info here and let me know if it helps?

sub-solar-studio

Hey Hannah,

Thanks for getting back to me and for linking to the original documentation for this link behaviour. I did link to that same documentation in my original post, so i'm aware of it and how it works.

If I were to open the link directly in a new tab, the use case would be different. So it's less comparable.

The way we're using the url's (including the dl=1 suffix query) on the site is in anchor links:

When the URL points to a Dropbox file, the anchor links behave as if it has the HTML attribute target="_self".
However, when the URL points to a Dropbox folder the anchor links behave as if they have the HTML attribute target="_blank" and open a new tab to then start the download.
This is unexpected behaviour as usually the target=_self is the default for all browsers and doesn't need to be specified. It's also how Dropbox has been functioning for quite a while. So there seems to have been some change that has caused this.

I think I've managed to find a workaround by just adding the target=_self attribute to the URL manually. But this might be something that you want to look into or raise to the engineering team responsible for this area.

Thanks

sub-solar-studio

Sorry, my bad. I think maybe some kind of change has been pushed on the back end, as now it seems like all the links are behaving as before, regardless of the 'target' attribute being set.

Perhaps a change was pushed from the Dropbox side?

Hannah

Sorry, @sub-solar-studio, do you mean that now your links work as usual?

terryfri3nds

Hello, Hanna.

I have the same error. I have an anchor with this link to share https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xxxx&dl=1. So when you click instead of doing a direct download it opens a new white tab and starts the download.
Whats happend? I need resolve asap!

Thanks

Jay

Hi @terryfri3nds, does this occur when viewing the link on an incognito/private browsing window in your browser?

Stratoman

All my photo links on the geocaching.com site have stopped working when using the /scl/ link.
the old /s/ links still work.
Tried dl=1 and raw=1
Tried on Chrome & Firefox.

Jay

Hi @Stratoman, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could you try these steps to see if they help with your shared links?

Keep me posted!

Msloane2

Been using the raw=1 code at the end of Dropbox links to load images to a Wordpress site that has very limited local storage. All of the images uploaded with this link are no longer loading, but images from the web are still working fine.

Jay

Hi @Msloane2, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Just for clarification, when you say 'images from the web', do you mean when you open the shared link from outside of the Wordpress site?

This will help me to assist further!

Msloane2

The Wordpress feature to upload images via link is working fine, as copying an image link from elsewhere on the internet and using that to upload an image is working as normal. It is just the Dropbox links that aren’t.
Copying the link directly from Dropbox and going to the url from outside of Wordpress brings the image up without an issue.

Jay

It sounds like the link itself is working normally in that case. This would be an issue with how Wordpress is processing the image link. Have you tried contacting them directly regarding this matter?

amensar

Thanks Jay, I've had the same issue, the thing that worked for me is this:

https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=0

Replacing www with dl works exactly like a ?raw=1 link: this will directly render content for public links in the browser. It requires following an HTTP 302 redirect.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&dl=0

Works like a ?raw=1 link, but the application or browser will not need to follow an HTTP 302 redirect to access the content.

the other options are not functionning anymore, please what's the reason behind this strange behavior ?

Greenlaw

Hi,

I'm seeing a related problem. On an animation forum where I've shared hundreds of images for training and demonstration, I'm now seeing broken image links.

These images were shared from my Dropbox account using raw=1 in the link path, and this had worked perfectly for many years. The images broke sometime this morning.

I checked various browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge,) and the images shared with Dropbox appear broken in all of them.

I had wondered if this was temporary server issue on Dropbox's end, but it's been like this all day.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

kelvinb

iframe embed stopped working on a client's website. All of her videos are embedded by iframe and were fine until this morning. Now we just get www.dropbox.com refused to connect.

The links are still valid and videos are working in dropbox, just not where embedded. Has something changed or is there a problem with dropbox?

kelvinb

Did you get a fix? All of my iframe embedded videos using the raw=1 change in the link have stopped working on Wordpress too.

lukaszg

Hello there,

Im having a major problem withe embedding dropbox video anywhere. MY first post so sorry for potentially noob question.

I use dropbox to embed videos on Shopify, Readymag and other platforms for over 3 years.

I was always using online service https://onelineplayer.com/ to generate <ifame

Yesterday some of the videos just stopped working and are showing grey board with info "video not found or not supported) while other videos, treated in exactly same way are working correctly. Help please this issue happened on live projects and I am being chased by clients/ex clients!

Example of dropbox video working correctly:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/usjnn0cvqzxi60h/grassmarket.mp4?st=gvsu6qd4&dl=0

Example of video not working at all:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zde0g1iziy6odzamrqttu/RC-V8.mp4?rlkey=b5wjofa7um0yu77xkhqa57yow&st=7j6uczlw&dl=0

I have also notices that the links of the videos with the problem have different structure. Not sure why (these are in the same folder on dropbox)

I will also add I found a solution which seems to be working but for a few hours only:

I change the ending of not working video from dl=0 to raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zde0g1iziy6odzamrqttu/RC-V8.mp4?rlkey=b5wjofa7um0yu77xkhqa57yow&st=7j6uczlw&raw=1

than I paste it to chrome and it becomes this:

https://uc27c9b8945c96f243beea1e4a95.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/inline/CSN2427839uNIE7qx9JeRVigSiefSBGyR1OQW09O2xEfexfRhDyCVchARrH7s4VC7pizaRqeQ70qy_jNyffVEr9ir9gZ6WeRLCAl6FEqviDEigT72knRS9y3tl2C1BVQGqJPj5v6-VaUyVdqfzo2UpSG/file

I use this link to feed it to https://onelineplayer.com/ and this works perfectly fine BUT only for a few hours.

help please I might be overcomplicating this, I jsut want to udersntand why some old videos work ok and some are not.

maybe there is also an easier way of embedding videos on the website.

Warden

It appears that what is being returned for a URL like removed has a Content-type of "text/html" instead of being the raw image data. It appears that the image is eventually delivered, but only after a ton of JS scripts and a 302 redirect.

This is also breaking Google Docs' PDF renderer, which is now displaying the source-text of an HTML page instead of the PDF file itself.

...or at least it was. It's now "refusing to connect."

torvat-ITA

Good morning, I have a standard plan an I am experiencing a strange behavior of Dropbox, apparently. More exactly all the videos I need to show on my pages do not appear. I have a website and wordpress installed, and as of this morning everything was fine.

Here's an example: https://www.evolvinnova.eu/2024/05/04/video-test/

the file seems accessible and shared to anyone who has the link:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vglnkmtnlpvo7svmkzxl3/fallo-al36-secondo.mp4?rlkey=7a9lzrn2bszrx34efot34hioc&st=w0whscno&dl=0

Of course I changed dl=0 in raw=1 but yet it doesn't work.

What can this be due to?

Thank you so much for any suggestion and hint, and please excuse me if the request is not proper or placed in the wrong place.

Have a nice day!

Gabriele

lukaszg

I will also add I was trying to use simple code whihc alway worked but with the problematic video above it does not :

Stratoman

Hi Jay,

I had already found that document and tried dl=1 and raw=1 with no luck.
I didn't try replacing www with dl as it says :-

<<<<<<

While we don't "officially" list these anymore in our Help Center, we are continuing to support them for now.

>>>>>>

However , I have just tried it and it works fine BUT this means going all the way back to June 2023 and changing all my links , not knowing how long it will be supported.
I really need the www /scl/ to work as it did a few days ago.

Thanks
John

Kismuntr

Same problem here. Directly passing the link into the browser works. Rendering the files as part of another website does not.
Everything uploaded before the new link change renders fine. Every file that has the new link (with the "rlkey=" in the URL) breaks and cannot be rendered. Filetypes (jpg/png/mp3) is exactly the same. The only difference is the URL structure. Happens on any platform I use (gallery platforms with html displays/boxes, google docs and sheets, etc) as well as in any browser I tried with the latest versions and cache cleared (Firefox, Chrome, Opera).

Thomasogmax

I have posted videos on my wordpress websites. it worked fine until now. I have changed the last part of the link to raw=1 videos that are uploaded on the site work fine and also videos from google drive. it's the same problem on all my websites

Warden

Mark

As Dropbox isnt a hosting tool, it is possible they are actively blocking the rendering of the sites (they have done this previously). Do the links work if you just use the links and not on a web page?

Thomasogmax

Thanks for reply. yes, if I put the link in for exembel vcl media player it plays the video its only on my websites its not working

Mark

It seems like something has actively changed on Dropbox as videos are not rendering either now (see here). However as Dropbox is NOT a hosting tool this is not unexpected - they have previously done similar to stop people using Dropbox as a web host, so, my guess is that this may be the same again.