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UX feedback about "Join Folder" button when clicking on a shared link

As I share links (created via OS folder view) to customers, i have had several of them clicking "Join Folder" as they think that is the priority way of dealing with the link they received. My purpose has been to share a link that multiple users can access - if I have the need to give full read/write access to a user (aka "join folder") - I would give that permission in the first place.

This leads to two questions:
1) Why is the "Join Folder" -button so highlighted when user enters via normal link, instead of it being either "copy to dropbox" or "download"? (buttons shown to users could be filtered based on the link user uses to access the folder).

2) Would the "Join Folder" button be even needed IF the link shared is created with a method "who ever has this link can read the files and copy them"?

This leads to a conclusion, that maybe Dropbox should filter the buttons out based on the link user uses to access the folder.

Why this error happens on a user: To me understanding, it happens because a) the button is highlighted blue and they just click it by heart without reading what the buttons actually state, or 2) they do not understand what "join folder" means - as it really does not indicate in any way, that user is actually requesting full read/write access to a folder, 3) or both reasons -> they do not understand the button text and believe it is the right one as it is highlighted.

If the button must exist, I would 1) change the button order and put it to be the last option, 2) rename it to (something like):

- Request Ownership

- Full Access
- Authorize

Now it just reminds too much of "joining the folder to see the files".

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Hannah

Hey @Karo Holmberg, thanks for taking the time to post to our Community.

We really appreciate your feedback on this matter.

Just wanted to address your concerns/questions; when creating a link to a folder, are you choosing the option to create a "can view" or a "can edit" link?

A "can view" link shouldn't prompt the recipient to join the folder.

However, your comments have been taken into account and will be passed along to our team.

If you need anything else, please let us know!

eternam

Hi Hannah, I'm running into this issue as well. Our clients are also getting confused by the blue highlighted "Join Folder" button vs "Download". This isn't just one client, it's dozens for us so this isn't a one off and it is most certainly a UX issue. Regardless of whether we set the link to "Can View" vs "Can Edit" doesn't change the row of buttons on top.

Unless I'm completely wrong on how to share links, the solution stated above doesn't seem to change the button options.

Nancy

Hi @eternam! Sorry for jumping in.

The folders that you’re sharing with your clients, are they already shared perhaps, or are they personal/regular ones? If you’re not sure about the distinction, you can also check this Help Center article; you can tell the difference by the different folder icons.

eternam

Hi Nancy,

The folders are initially teams folders, with the building icons. We create a folder, upload our files and then we share the folder. In the outward facing link that gets generated and sent to client, those folders are solid blue. And when I hover over a folder or file, there are two options to either "Copy to Dropbox" or "Download", which has always been the case. And that's great. I can replicate this whether I'm logged in or logged out, using different Dropbox accounts, and using incognito tabs, just as a client would see them. And there's no problem downloading folders or files.

The issue that I'm describing is that clients seem to get confused and instead of clicking "Download" they click "Join Folder" because it's the brightest thing on their screen.

Part of it is us letting the client know to click the "Download" button and ignore "Join Folder" but it would be more intuitive if Dropbox either moved the "Join Folder" over so it's not the first thing they see and/or highlight the "Download" button instead.

I attached a screenshot of the row of buttons. For whatever reason, clients instinctively click on Join folder. I get a dozen automatically generated emails every week asking to join folders, when they clearly have access to all of the files.
Screenshot 2023-11-16 075038.png

Walter

Hey @eternam - sorry to jump in and thanks for your feedback on this.

I've logged it in our system - you can let us know if you have anything else to add.

Karo Holmberg

As I use DropBox integrated to my file/folder structure, I copy the link for customers via "right-click-menu" (Win).

And like Eternam, i have received multiple "join requests".

I do not know which parameters DropBox automatically uses for this kind of link-share (Can View/Can Edit). Not related to this issue, but I would suggest that the automated parameter would be "Can View" - or even something that user could select/define within settings.

Nancy

Hey @Karo Holmberg! You can easily change this via your Sharing tab (in your web settings).

Karo Holmberg

Nice, Thanks!

skull session

hi Nancy, we send out 20-100 Dropbox links a week. All of them are view only shared folders.

a recent change in UI has led to constant requests for write access, and our customers cannot access their files until we stop and approve each one. I've had six in the last 30 hours, and roughly 15 emails about them, because they keep going back and clicking join repeatedly. 15 might be low. like they should be able to do with a final delivered product that shouldn't require admin intervention to approve them.

jussivirtanen

I use the macOS Finder "Copy Dropbox link" action, and I also see the "Join folder" as the primary CTA. I have set View only on the sharing settings tab.

The "Join folder" CTA wasn't always there. When sharing images with friends and family, I get these join requests from them, even though I just want to share the images with them like earlier (without a CTA to join the folder).

I'm using Dropbox V189.2.7123, if that's of any help.

Edit: I did not receive join requests this time, but I can still see people have joined my folder. This might be nitpicking, but I'd rather just share a link to a folder without the possibility of the viewers joining the folder. Is this possible? Here's how the folder looks on dropbox.com and in Finder:

J0N

This issue has cause significant communication time with external clients for us. The “Join Folder” button is even more prominent on mobile. I’ll be looking at other file sharing alternatives if this issue doesn’t get resolved soon since it’s costing us too much time.

Karo Holmberg

It seems this is not bulletproof at all.

I shared a link (via OS folder structure) to a customer, who gave the link forward to other people that participated the event.

Now I get this kind of message to my email:

And when I tried the link on the above message, I get this kind of pop-up.

Really. What?! The link I provided does not bring the user to this kind of view - how come they end on such? And how can we prevent that?

The link I provided has read-access to the image folder.

Here is a screenshot of the default settings I have:

Why are we suddenly, after so many years of no-issues, having trouble on the most basic tasks of the whole system - we do try use this professionally!...

Karo Holmberg

A bit more research.

It seems that this is the view users get:

First of all, thanks for changing "join folder" to "copy to dropbox". That is much much better UX than what it was before. But..

Please do not use this part of the dropbox-service as a marketing spot for Dropbox.

1st: "Copy to Dropbox" is not the primary method for distributing files (at least to my knowledge). "Download" logically would be (unless you have a monopoly over cloud services and therefor most of users are also dropbox users - in that case this would be acceptable). I bet if you look at your statistics, download button is much more used than "copy to dropbox".

We are paying money to have a service which we can use to easily distribute files (images in this case) to our customers. Those customers are not necessarily your customers - but they are customers that deserve the easiest and most understandable method of getting the files we need to distribute to them, therefor, please highlight Download, and move that as the primary option.

2nd: The users who are Dropbox users already, they will "copy to dropbox" if they need to do that. They know how it works and they can make the choice easily. They also know to look for "copy to dropbox" option.

Non-dropbox-users won't and this gets them mixed up - as we can clearly see.