Camera upload from different phones into different folders

There's no need to post the same reply multiple times. Please direct further discussion to the following thread. Thank you.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/204506155-Camera-upload-from-different-phones-into-different-folders

Cross-linking for reference:

This reply will be updated with other posts as they are closed and redirected here.

OliverF

Hi, please add this feature to the paid version. We really need this. Thanks for taking this into consideration and I really hope to see it soon available on my wife's iPhone and mine! Thank you.

nishdom

Claire - I noticed this thread is from July of 2015. Did this feature get implemented yet? If so, how can I set this up?

It isnt possible to do it nishdom.

What do you mean Nishdom?

I +1'd it because I think it's a great idea - I also have multiple devices, and would like a folder per device.

Add me to the list requesting this.

ECT527

Can Dropbox please respond? This has been a request for 2 years now and doesn't seem like that difficult of one.

If it hasn't happened in two years, it's likely not going to happen. Dropbox has always stated that any devices connected to a single account will upload to the same Camera Uploads folder.

Also, this is primarily a user-support forum. If you require a response from Dropbox then you need to open a ticket with Support.

Open your ticket here: https://www.dropbox.com/support
Track your ticket here: https://dropbox.zendesk.com

Replies take approximately 1 - 3 business days with Plus users getting priority (longer for Basic users).

Jane

Hey @ECT527 and @Mike603,

Thanks for getting in touch with us on Community!

I 'd like to thank you for the time you have devoted to give us this feedback, it is appreciated and I’ll make sure that all your comments and suggestions are promptly transferred to our development team for further consideration. We always value user input on current features and functionality.

Furthermore, please note that I’m at your entire disposal in case further assistance is needed or you need to voice your opinion about Camera Uploads, just let me know in your comments below.

Kind regards,

JaneA

So many companies spin this lie nowadays!

"I’ll make sure that all your comments and suggestions are promptly transferred to our development team for further consideration"

Just be honest - you wont, can't or just don't like the idea!

Zed

Hey @Mark W., we do forward all of your comments and feedback from all of our channels of communication to the product development teams. There's no point dedicating time in the community and telling you we do if we didn't.

Now, some things can happen, some are under development and other under consideration. We love your ideas and we value your feedback, that's for sure.

Thank you. :slight_smile:

I hope so :-)

Zed

Oh it's true :slight_smile: .

Keep those creative ideas coming, have a great day!

:doughnut:

jdbradford7

So is it undr development? When is the release date?

I just connected my Android phone to Dropbox and was shocked to see my thousands of pictures being uploaded and intermingled with my wife's thousands of photos. How will we ever straighten this mess out. I turned off the Camera Upload once I realized that I cannot direct what folder the pictures go into. I AM SHOCKED that such a simple and important feature does not exist!! And from this thread, Dropbox has know about the need for years!!! This should not be a difficault feature; Just append the device name to the folder path. How hard could it be. (Note that I am a software engineer with 32 years of experiance.) I cannot recommend Dropbox to my friends and collegues when such simple features are lacking and the the company seems so unresponsive!!!!!

In my opinion the reasons for Dropbox not doing this are not technical. The technical issues are trivial.

The issue is a marketing one. They want everyone to by multple drop box accounts, that way they make more money.

If you have to purchase an account for every phone you want to back up Dropbox makes 2 or more times more money.

That is the only logical conclusion that I can think of due to the ease of implimenting this and the fact that Dropbox has ignored this idea for years.

Dropbox tech support even says that you should purchase a seperate account for each phone.

Obviously customer convenience and saving the customer some money is not important.

jdbradford7 wrote:
So is it undr development? When is the release date?

Dropbox rarely releases information about what features are in development or when certain features will be released.

That's being said, it's unlikely that this is something that will ever come about. Simply put, Dropbox accounts are meant for individuals. They are not meant to be shared among multiple people. For that reason alone there is no reason to implement something like this.

Note that I'd like to see this feature as well. I'm not defending Dropbox for not implementing it. I'm simply stating the likely reason why it is so.

KeithTan

Hi,

I'd like to ask whether is there any follow up to this matter? Recently bumped into this problem and saw this was dated close to 2 years ago.

Hope to hear back soon!

Thanks

Nothing has changed and Dropbox also do not release roadmaps I'm afraid as @Rich said last week.

It is my opinion that Dropbox does not want to do this because they believe that they will sell more accounts this way.

Their answer to this issue has always been "Dropbox was not designed to backup more than one phone at a time. If you want to keep your data seperate you will need to purchase seperate accounts for each phone"

Considering the number of requests for this and the number of years this has been requested this is obviously a marketing decision and has nothing to do with technology or what the customer wants.

Dropbox please prove me wrong. Please show us that you actually care about what the customer wants and not just corporate profits.

There are some moderately functional alternatives to do this for Android but unfortunatley none for the iPhone (I don't think Apple would allow a program in the iStore that could possibly take sales away from iCloud storage).

Actually Mike in my opinion I think its more to do with the fact they are totally moving away from photos and anything to do with them (e.g. removal of albums etc.)

However, yes, I agree that the security thing is a big issue - Dropbox have always been exceptionally strict on one user = one account which isnt really that unreasonable.

Mark,

I don't know abouit albums, to be honest I don't use dropbox for sharing photos. As for the security, if I choose to share my account with my wife I should be able to do that.

Maybe Dropbox needs a new paradigm. That of a family account Package. One bill per family but with the ability to create multiple "sub-accouns".

Each sub-account could have the option of linking to zero or more other sub-accounts and one or more devices.

All devices linked to a single subaccount would be synchronized. For example my wife's iPad and iPhone, everything on one would also appear on the other).

Any sub-account linked to another sub-account would appear as a separate folder on the device. For example, my wife's photos would appear as a "Wife's Photos" folder on my tablet or phone.

The granularity of what is shared and what is not shared between linked sub-accounts would be up to Dropbox but as an engineer I would like to see as much control given to me as possible.

Theoretically each device being backed up could have a different login but still under the same family account. Possibly even to the point where parents could setup a "child's account" which would allow the account administrator to view and control the "child's account".

This could actually be a marketing feature where parents can keep better track of their children. I can think of many features that could be part of this package.

Imagine the following scenario:

A family of mom, dad and son, each having a phone and a tablet and there is a family computer and dad has a laptop.

Sub-Accounts and Linked Devices

Mom

Phone

Tablet

Family Computer

Dad

Phone

Tablet

Laptop

Son

Phone

Tablet

Linked sub-accounts

Dad

Family Computer

Son's Sub-Account

Mom

Family Computer

Son's Sub-Account

Son

Family Computer

In addition Son's phone could periodically send it's location to the family account so mom or dad could check on where he is.

In the above scenario mom and dad can see everything in sons sub-account but son cannot see what is in mom's or dad's sub-account.

This would be worth the same $99 I am paying now for a pro account.

I believe alot of these features already exist for business accounts.

I am seriously looking to switch to another cloud storage like Google just because of this phone issue.

One other thing that is required is a proper app for the iOS that can backup Apple products completely to something other than iCloud.

They wont launch a product like what you said above for that price simply because a lot of the costs they have are not the storage its the support of the users and the connections to and from the servers (paid per time).

Also, if they did that all of the $750pa users on Business would simply downgrade.

How about the following price structure for the family package:

Basic Family: $50/year with 2 sub-accounts and 256GB of shared storage

Family Plus: $75/year with 4 sub-accounts and 512GB of shared storage

Family Deluxe: $100/year with 6 sub-accounts and 1TB of shared storage

Additional sub-account: $10/year with no additional shared storage

Additional sub-account: $15/year with additional 128GB of shared storage

Additional sub-account: $25/year with additional 256GB of shared storage

Maximum 10 sub-accounts per family plan.

Extra shared storage: $12/year for 128GB

Extra shared storage: $22/year for 256GB

Extra shared storage: $42/year for 512GB

Extra shared storage: $75/year for 1TB

This would make it cost comparible to the pro plan and not really competitive with the business plan.

I realize this is just an idea but I'm trying to give Dropbox marketing a way of helping fill their customer's needs without affecting their revenue significantly.

And finally, the security excuse for requiring multiple accounts does't hold water for families, it would be the customer's understanding that a family account does not offer the same kind of security as does individual accounts. Similar to the business accounts.

MVIN

Agreed this feature is really really needed, it should be possible to select the name of the folder where the backup goes to.

AndyBecJess

The easiest way would be to create a separate new account and share that folder to your main account. that way you have visibility of both on your main account.. Every now and again you can move the files from the shared folder into a permanent folder on your main account if you have more space so that the new account doesn't fill up.

MVIN

Andybecjess, this is not a useful solution for me, I have two phone a tablet and a camera my wife has the same and kids has phones, if I have to create a new account for each device this will be a big hassel to maintain. Luckly I have found a seperate app which solved the issue but it would be much appriciated if it was build in to dropbox. Im considering if I really want to continue with my payed dropbox because of this