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I'm not able to share files that are saved in my backup folder

I'd like to know why the whole system of sharing has been removed with the introduction of Dropbox Backup.

My workflow has completely been destroyed.

Previously (Before Monterey and Dropbox Backup) I could share all folders directly from my Documents to clients. I have had this workflow in place for a year or so now. Now I'm hearing that this has been completely removed. I can't even access the folders in my browser because it keeps switching over to Dropbox Backup instead of the regular Dropbox site.

From what I read if I want it to work as before I need to create a new folder inside my Dropbox folder instead of in the Folder that is connected to Backup. This would mean I have to duplicate every folder on my drive instead of just being able to share directly.

This was working perfectly for over a year to just turn off this feature without notifying anyone is crazy. I literally can't work right not.

There are folders on my drive that are shared and I can't access basic sharing features because dropbox won't even allow me to access them in the regular Dropbox browser client.

I hope this can be resolved urgently otherwise I will have to look into a new provider for my cloud-based storage.

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Hannah

Hey @euanburton, thanks for reaching out to our Community.

It is not possible to share backed up files any more, to ensure the security of your files, as a lot of people have very personal files saved to their desktop folders.

I do understand your frustration with this, though, and I will definitely pass your comments along to our team.

Your feedback is very valuable and rest assured that it will be delivered.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

danbett

Hi Euan

I have exactly the same issue and posted the same problem the other day and feel exactly the same as you. It has destroyed my workflow and the only answers I get are 'oh well...' I don't know why they have removed this feature and also that we didn't have a choice and weren't informed. I have asked if the developers can re-instate this and hopefully they can/will.

I hope they fix this soon as Dropbox has become a useless service overnight for me

all my best

Dan

euanburton

Thanks for your reply Hannah.

I understand how privacy might be an issue for personal users but surely privacy is an issue for all documents in Dropbox. I don’t see how removing the share function makes it more secure. I’m a business user, maybe this might make sense for personal users but not for me and I’m still not really sure it does for them. Would be interested to hear their feedback.

Also as a business user I don’t have access to the external drive backup feature of Dropbox Backup. I can’t understand why this currently is a personal user only feature?

So far the introduction of Dropbox Backup has removed key features for me and added no functionality with regards to backing up my files. Something which would be useful.

I hope this can be addressed as soon as possible. I have found a temporary workaround (creating a new Dropbox folder and moving all my documents to it) but it was frustrating to fix a problem that was created for me overnight without any warning. I feel in particular business users, who are paying a lot of money for this service, deserve better and such drastic changes should be communicated in advance.

Also, and apologies for what is turning into a rant, with regards to security this change actually made things less secure for me. Any documents on my computer that were previously shared were still shared but now moved to Dropbox Backup where I had no control over sharing. So while I worked out that I now had to move them I had no control over Sharing functions for these folders.

No part of this makes any sense.

Thanks again for the feedback and I do appreciate and thank the team for many of the new features but the rollout of Dropbox Backup (particularly with regards to business customers) seems ill conceived at best.

chickenoodle

I am a long-time DB user and I completely agree with the other posters in this thread.

The way backup used to work was perfect for me. I would (many times in a day) share any file on my machine by right-clicking and sending along to clients, colleagues, etc. The added step of duplicating files into the DB folder feels like backwards progress in the product.

It seems like this could be resolved by simply allowing a DB user to choose whether they'd like everything in their backup to be shareable, or if the user would like to turn that feature off for added privacy.

Side note on this: I contacted support about this issue because I thought there might be a problem with my machine. (Ticket #16457278) The customer service agent didn't identify the new behavior as a result of the new feature introduced around 4/19/22, and led me down a series of intricate instructions that involved steps in OSX Terminal. I'm glad that I didn't follow through on those instructions and decided to look into it further (I determined that there's nothing wrong with my machine or my dropbox install, and this is just an unfortunate new "feature.")

Anyway, I hope you might solve this with a simple on-off toggle for us in the settings. It seems that some of us are using backup not only for backup purposes, but also for seamless, global file sharing right from the finder, and that should be acknowledged as a great use case for your product. Thank you for listening and I continue to be a loyal DB user 🙂

bwr

I couldn't agree more, this was a very bad move. As far as I can tell I can no longer share anything on my hard drive now.

Please change this back!

msg05

Ya, this is a real workflow killer for Dropbox.

dhey45

I have exactly the same problem - it's infuriating. Thanks for explaining why it's happened I was completely gaslit by the support chat as though it was perfectly normal and I just hadn't understood what a back up folder was

danbett

I had exactly the same problem but it has been fixed (v154.4.5363 - OSX) and I can now share my files as used to using the 'Send a Copy' feature which has also had a couple of enhancements. I was very very frustrated that this was taken away but it seems to have been put back (and hopefully permanently) and I can use dropbox as I was before. I am very glad this was done.... (is it working for everyone else?)

best regards

Dan

cdr_bond

This is dumb that you can no longer share folders within "Documents" (osx). Please bring this function back!!!

Manderooni

"Send a Copy" definitely doesn't fix the problem for me. I want people to retain access to the folder I share without having to send them a zip file they have to download every time a change is made.

Manderooni

PLEASE bring this back. This feature was what made Dropbox work for my workflow. Sending clients a zip file to download isn't acceptable, nor is duplicating all the files I want to share. This is very frustrating. We don['t need to be coddled. Your users are capable of deciding which files to share without sharing access to our entire hard drive.

admazy

For me "Send a Copy" feature doesn't work at all because it has a limit of 2 GB.

Hugo Jobse

I used to share my files directly from my backup disk to people I collaborate with. As soon as I finished a project, it got uploaded to Dropbox automatically and I could then send it to others. But, since Dropbox Backup came into existence, this option got removed (for as far I know). It was one of the key reasons why I enjoyed working with Dropbox. Is there now another way to share a link? If so, I haven't figured it out yet.

Hannah

Thanks for reaching out to us, @Hugo Jobse.

We appreciate your feedback here.

This is very important to us, so I'll make sure to pass your comments along to our team.

Doud

Hi there.
Dropbox backup is really cool, and far more secure than a drag and drop folder.
BUT there is a big limitation : we can’t share specific folder inside !
Obviously, it should be a read-only sharing, without modifying the integrity of the Backup.
Example : I have a big external HD with many old photos. Impossible to drag and drop the main directory, too buggy 🙂 but ok with this backup option.
I’d like to share some folders with friends…and it’s impossible. A special “read only shared link” option would be extremely convenient, and would not compromise the integrity of the backup process. If big changes in the backup are made, you can just break old shared links.
Can you add this option ?
On side subject, NTFS compatibility for MacOS would be a vital option (available on other cloud backups BTW)
In my opinion, it’s not a real idea, but just a bug 🙂
Please be aware of this problem, hope this be fixed soon.

Best

Cadencegrace

I have the same issue and it's so infuriating that I'm just going to move to a different file service. What an absolute joke and a complete failure to actually consider what your paying subscribers need/want. What is the point of automatically uploading your files and then not being able to USE THEM..... EPIC FAIL