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I no longer see the option to leave a copy of the shared folder I'm unsharing to its members.

My question is what happens when I "remove" a share email. And what happens if I just delete the folder without removing the shares first?

In previous versions of Dropbox I was able to un-share a folder (I am the owner) with the option to let other users keep the contents. I could then delete the folder without removing their content.

Today (March 2025) I am not finding those options. It appears I can only remove shared emails with no option for them to keep their copy of the files?

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edrob

I am reporting that the support team answered/solved the issue. If the parent folder is shared the sub-folders inside cannot be unshared. In my case the parent folder did not appear to be shared, however a while back I inadvertently shared the parent folder, immediately noticed the mistake and removed the share email. Apparently the parent folder is still tagged as shared by Dropbox.

With this knowledge my solution was to create a new unshared folder and move the folders I want to unshare into this folder. This has solved the problem as I can now unshare the folder and leave the files on the remote computer.

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Nancy

Thanks for posting here, @edrob!

When saying “share email”, are you referring to the members of your shared folder perhaps?

If you just temporarily delete the folder from your Dropbox account, it’ll still remain shared with the rest of the members.

As for the option you don’t see, are you following these steps to unshare the folder?

Can you send me a screenshot of what you see after clicking on the “Unshare folder” button? The option to leave a copy to the removed folder members should appear after that (the same applies if you try to remove an individual member from the shared folder).

Keep me posted for any updates.

edrob

Thank you for your reply, Nancy.

I think you have confirmed my concern that if I remove email addresses that are linked to a shared folder I own, the content will be removed from the remote users computer. Also if I just delete the folder from my computer it will be removed from the users computer.

In older versions of Dropbox (a few months ago) I was able to unshare a folder and was given the option to leave content on the remote computer. It seems this option has been removed. This is unfortunate because I am sending photographic files to clients almost daily and I need to cull older folders from my computer so they don't accumulate in my Dropbox account over the years I've been doing this.

Your link "are you following these steps" shows me instructions that state:
"When you unshare a folder in Dropbox, the files are permanently deleted from each member's account and removed from any linked devices when the Dropbox desktop app syncs again."

This is turning into a feature request to re-establish the ability to unlink a folder and still keep content on the remote computer.

Thanks,
Ed

edrob

Follow-up on my previous post.

If I follow these instructions:

Log in to dropbox.com
Hover over the folder you’d like to unshare and click Share.
Click the gear icon in the bottom right.
Select the Folder settings tab.
Click Unshare folder.

On number #4 I get this dialogue box and I don't even have the option to unshare the folder. I am on Firefox if that matters.

Walter

Hey @edrob, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here.

If you get the same results on other browsers as well, could you send me a screenshot of how this specific folder looks on your end?

Have you tried with other shared folders of yours by the way?

Rich

edrob wrote:
In older versions of Dropbox (a few months ago) I was able to unshare a folder and was given the option to leave content on the remote computer.

Just to ease your concern, that option is still available when you unshare a folder.

This obviously doesn't explain why you don't have the link to unshare the folder, but once you get that sorted out you should be able to unshare the folder while allowing the other members to keep a copy.

edrob

Hi Walter,

I opened Dropbox in Edge and get the same results as in Firefox; no unshare link.
This is the folder/subfolder view:

This is the open folder view:

Walter

Thanks for the screenshot and the additional information too @edrob - most appreciated.

From what I can see, the parent folder is not shared but the folders that are located within it are. Do you get the option to unshare the folders that are shown with the icon of the two people?

edrob

I think you are asking about this icon?

I've never clicked on it before - however when I do I get the square progress circle and it did not load after about five minutes, when I closed it.

Jay

Hi @edrob, do you get same issue when clicking the share button in different browsers?

edrob

Update from previous post.
I only tested the oldest folder which exhibited the results I posted above.
However I tested other folders and they all loaded, showing emails of the invited shares. The folder that would not load the shares is the only one demonstrating this characteristic.

In all of the other folders I tested, the gear icon brings up the dialogue box, from my earlier post, that does NOT show the unshare link.

edrob

I tested Edge with the same result, no unshare link.

Jay

Thanks for the info, in order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.

edrob

Thank you to everyone whom has help in investigating my issue. I'm heading to support.

edrob

Walter

Thanks so much for keeping us in the loop on this and I'm also glad to hear you managed to sort it out in the end as well @edrob

Let us know if anything else comes up in the future.