Dropbox interface is unclear when sharing with people without Dropbox

Question

If I send a link to multiple people, do all of theses people need to sign up for Dropbox to see my files? I think the answer is yes because I tried the link myself (as a non-user) and I was prompted to log in or sign up.

The real problem is that I need this information WHEN I CREATE THE LINK. It should be my choice whether or not to put my associates through the process of signing up for Dropbox.  This is a problem with the Dropbox user interface.  I should also not have to logout and test the link myself to get this information.

Jim W.46 · Answer

Dear project manager,  I just saw your excellent comments.  First let me say how impressed I am that the Dropbox has taken this seriously and actually replied to my post. This issue has created "friction" as you say when I have tried to send links to my associates.  The problems are:

1. The difference between "view" and "edit" might not be clear to the person creating the link.

2. The person creating the link may not even be aware there is a drop down menu.

3. I'm pretty sure the default is "edit", which is the option that creates more troubles for the recipients.

I believe my suggestion to provide two different buttons solves these problems. (We haven't even talked about the ability to download the file, but that's another topic.)  Regarding your comments about adjusting the link audience and sharing an edit link to a team folder, I cannot comment. I'm usually in a hurry and I just want to send the link out to a group of people and I want them to be able to view and download the file without logging in. Time is usually of the essence and all these other options you describe are beyond my current needs.

So this may address your question about "per recipient basis, or a global option that applies to all links". I'm sorry I don't have the experience to comment at this time. HOWEVER, I am guessing that your sharing window could default to the one that I describe and you could have a button for "Advanced options".  I hope this helps and thank you once again for listening to your customers.

Jim W.46 · Answer

Discussing a user interface in a forum is difficult, especially when the forum (apparently) does not allow uploading of screen shots.

Hannah, it appears that you don't completely understand the problem.  I THINK you're saying that if someone receives a link, they don't have to sign in because a recipient can just bypass the signin window by clicking on the X. Is that what you're saying?

Sorry but that's not always true, and that is the problem, isn't it?  You might want to try it yourself - create a link in "view" mode and another in "edit" mode and pretend to be a recipient and notice the difference. Don't worry - I 'm sure most Dropbox users are unaware of how these two modes work.  That's why I suggested the user interface could be improved. Just to repeat, here is a link to my suggestion...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uf0eog6wh65tk1x/link_solution.JPG?dl=0

The real challenge is... can we get the engineers to understand this problem (smile).

katiedbx · Answer

Hey @Jim W.46! Product Manager from the sharing team here! Thank you for providing this feedback - we are always looking for ways to make sharing more simple for users and this confusion around whether recipients need a Dropbox account or not is certainly a point of friction.

First, I'd like to expand a bit on @Walter's answer regarding when an account is required or not. In general when you share with a link, recipients won't need an account. However, there are a few cases where the receiver will need an account:

* If you adjust the link audience such that only specific people should have access 
* If you are sharing an edit link to a team folder (for added security we require recipients of these folders to sign in)

@Jim W.46 to your other point in the thread, explaining this all in a forum post helps some folks with clarity, but the better path forward would be to improve the user experience in product! We are currently experimenting with new layouts for the modal to make this more clear, but I'm curious to hear more about your note that "It should be my choice whether or not to put my associates through the process of signing up for Dropbox". In your ideal world, how would you expect to make this choice? Would it be on a per recipient basis, or a global option that applies to all links?

Thanks again for your feedback!