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.PNGs not visible in Dropbox photos tab

Hello Dropbox Forum!

Whenever I try uploading a .png to Dropbox it doesn't show up in the photos tab (dropbox.com/photos). At first I thought this was due to Dropbox not finding any date in the file (PNGs do lack exif support). However, after trying to both change the filename to the date (using format yyyy-mm-dd hh.mm.ss) and changing the creation/ modified date before uploading it still won't show up. PNG files appear to be supported as they show up when uploaded via the mobile image sync feature. I have tried uploading it to different directories on my Dropbox (including the camera uploads folder) using both the windows desktop client and the web client.

Kindly, a long time Dropbox user.

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Accepted answers

Jay

Thanks for the update. I've looked into this matter further, and per my colleague previously stated, any camera photos of any size saved in PNG format will not appear on the Photos tab.

Screenshots, however, which are generally saved as PNG and uploaded automatically by the camera upload feature, are included on the Photos tab.

We appreciate the feedback on this matter, and if you wish, you can suggest this change for others to vote on, so the dev team can look into this in future!

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Lusil

Hey @Badtrampers, I'd be more than happy to help look into this with you.

I'll just need a bit more info to make sure that we've covered as much ground as possible. For example:

Are you able to find other uploaded images, such as .jpeg files, in your Photos tab?
How large are the .png photos you're having trouble previewing?
Have you tried another browser or an incognito window?
Could you also try clearing the browser's cache and then going to the Photos tab?

Let me know what you find, thanks!

Badtrampers

Hi @Lusil, thank you for your help!

Yes, other images (and videos) do show up in the photos tab without issue. JPG files without date are shown at the bottom of the photo tab under the "missing dates" tiltle. No PNGs (except for the ones uploaded via dropbox mobile image sync) are shown anywhere though. I tried using a different browser and the incognito mode per your suggestion without luck. I even went as far as trying to create a new basic account to see if there would be any difference. Most of the files are less then 1MB in size, some are over 1MB but not more than 2 (they are mostly different types of screenshots).

Lusil

Thanks for getting back to me, @Badtrampers.

I had a better look into this for you, and I found that the Photos tab excludes .png files and pictures under 15 KB.

This is because they tend to be used for thumbnails and, since users may have hundreds of thumbnails in their files and folders, this exclusion makes sure that only your photos are in the Photos tab.

That doesn't mean that you cannot have these files on Dropbox though.

You can still upload small photos or .pngs to your Dropbox folders from a device and they will appear on your desktop app and in the correct folders on the website.

I hope this helps to some extent, but let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers!

Badtrampers

@Lusil, Thank you for providing me with this information. May I ask where you found this? I have searched the internet but have not been able to find any guides concerning this topic.

Do you happen to know why .png files uploaded via the backup feature in the dropbox app show up? Is there any way to override the exclusion and make certain .png files visible (as it would appear the backup feature does)?

I tend to sort my images by the device that which has captured them. This makes the Photos tab incredibly useful when I instead want to view all photos sorted by date. I could of course convert my .png images to .jpg before uploading them but due to the fact that some .png files do show up this seems like somewhat of a band aid.

I truly appreciate you taking the time, this one I can't seem to be able solve on my own!

Jay

This information regarding the small png files is known to Dropbox. The automatic camera backup prevents the potential for thumbnails to be uploaded.

Manually uploading the images, however, means that you choose to upload the images, so they will appear on the site. Currently, it wouldn't be possible to change the behavior of the automatic uploads.

Hope this helps to clarify matters!

Badtrampers

@Jay
Just to clarify - when you say ”the site” do you refer to the photos tab?
I am not interested in changing the behavior of the automatic uploads. I am only looking for a way to make .png files (that are uploaded manually) appear in the photos tab (dropbox.com/photos).
With these clarifications out of the way I hope that we will be able to understand one another.

Jay

Are there any similarities at all to the images that aren't appearing on the Photos page, such as dimensions, or where they're saved from, or any specific metadata on the files?

Badtrampers

@Jay

No, not as far as I can tell. I have even tried to take a png that show up, modyfing its date, name and making some small changes in the image itself, and then reuploading it to Dropbox. The only thing which differs is if they are uploaded manually or automatically (via the app). Uploading manually from the app doesn't work either.

Here is a sample if you would like to see for yourself: https://we.tl/t-QGWwJ3VX8i (the newer one is the one that doesn't show up).

Jay

Thanks for the update. I've looked into this matter further, and per my colleague previously stated, any camera photos of any size saved in PNG format will not appear on the Photos tab.

Screenshots, however, which are generally saved as PNG and uploaded automatically by the camera upload feature, are included on the Photos tab.

We appreciate the feedback on this matter, and if you wish, you can suggest this change for others to vote on, so the dev team can look into this in future!

Badtrampers

Thank you for the clarification @Jay! At least now I know that it isn't possible. I will proceed by submiting this as and idea and mark your answer as the solution.

jojonah

So what am I supposed to do with the thousands of PNG files intermixed with JPEGs in hundreds of folders all throughout my dropbox? It's easy to say that dropbox doesn't allow these in the photos folder, but there needs to be an answer. What is the response from Dropbox?

Walter

Hey there @jojonah; thanks for joining the discussion here.

I'm sorry to ask, but can you let us know some additional information about the issue you're facing?

jojonah

Earlier Post:

Thanks for the update. I've looked into this matter further, and per my colleague previously stated, any camera photos of any size saved in PNG format will not appear on the Photos tab.

Screenshots, however, which are generally saved as PNG and uploaded automatically by the camera upload feature, are included on the Photos tab.

We appreciate the feedback on this matter, and if you wish, you can suggest this change for others to vote on, so the dev team can look into this in future!

Jay

Walter

I see now; thanks for the additional feedback on this one @jojonah.

Let us know if you have anything else to add or ask!