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Alphabet navigation on ipad disappeared

The alphabet navigation disappeared on our ipad os version 16.7.2, dropbox version 362.7. We rely on that to navigate the numerous files we have. How do I get it back?

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Comments

Broadwaymhl

I know there is a separate thread about this. Clearly, it’s upsetting a number of your members. There are probably many more who don’t realize it’s gone yet. You never explained why it’s an “inconsistent experience.” If this is the case, perhaps it would be better to get our feedback before just removing it. Or keep it while you figure out how to make it less inconsistent. It’s so frustrating. As you can read, it’s something many of us depend upon to make our work with Dropbox easy and seamless.

Villagekid

Also Agree. The alpha index is crucial to me. I play in live musical shows and navigating my 300 songs quickly is vital to me. Please bring the index back!!!

Megrnorman

Hi Ben.
I am the original user who complained over two years ago about the alphabet navigation bar disappearing. I made my original post about it disappearing and explained to your team member, Ray, who then reached back out with some troubleshooting. Unfortunately, an answer/fix did not come until another year when I got a random email from Ray saying that he had fixed the application and gave me instructions to go into settings and to reinstate the alphabet bar. And as you stated it seems about 2 1/2-3 weeks ago it was removed again. When you updated the app, you decided that the alphabet bar was providing an inconsistent experience. Could you please elaborate on the inconsistent experience that it was providing for users, and what troubles they were running into? Can you please provide any information you have in connection with the decision to get rid of the alphabet bar? I know when you are programming sometimes things get overlooked, which is what I believe happened the first time the alphabet bar disappeared, but that does not seem to be the case here. This seems to be an intentional removal which, as you can see, has cause chaos for many users.

Broadwaymhl

Agreed!! Please figure out a way to bring it back for all the users who depend on it!!

evyncharles

You recently removed the actual alphabetical letters (A-Z) from the file view. This has been a very useful feature to me. I use Dropbox on my iPad as a working live musician: All my song sheets are in a folder and I'd been able to jump to a particular letter quickly; for example looking for a song whose title starts with the letter "T," I could quickly tap on the "T" section then scroll to the actual song in another split second. Now you've replaced this with a tiny (tiny, tiny!) scrolling wheel, which is very difficult to use, especially in a live setting where time is of the essence. Please bring back the letters, thank you!

Antanas

Hey, where is the Alphabetic index disappeared???
Not having it makes using Dropbox very difficult, so PLEASE restore it!

Szuccaro

We miss the letter grid search bar that we used to have. Inside the folder we can tap a letter and be moved right to the alphabetical section containing the documents.

Sam DBX

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your feedback.

Our team is already working on improvements/adjustments to this feature, expected in the coming months.

We'll keep you posted here.

Thank you,

Sam

Broadwaymhl

Thank you, Sam. I just noticed yesterday that not only did the alphabet grid bar disappear, but I don't see the actual scroll bar, making it even more difficult to move quickly through all my files. Was this a glitch or did you remove that permanently, too?

Sam DBX

Hi @Broadwaymhl ‌👋‌

Can you try scrolling down a little? You should see the file scrubber pop up. Let us know.

PS: Our team is working on improving this experience, we hope to have news soon.

Thanks,

Sam

Megrnorman

Months?
That is quite a long time to wait for a resolution, especially considering I’ve already waited almost 2 years for this to be resolved. And in that two years, the alphabet bar was only back for a few months by one of your employees who already correct this issue once. Is there anything you guys can do to accelerate a resolution to this issue as it seems to be causing problems for a large group of your users.

Also, just a sidenote. Do you have many people working internally that actually use the app frequently? It doesn’t sound like your team is very in touch with the needs of your users, and it might be ideal for you guys to find a few frequent Dropbox users to add to your team to help you with good solid feedback, especially when you remove features and update.

Broadwaymhl

It only works in the main Dropbox folder, not in the sub-folder. That just changed this week! I've had no trouble using the file scrubber pop-up in any folder before. That's no longer the case. I hope you can bring it back - please let me know! Thank you! Michael

Tgg

I’m definitely having the same with the blue alphabet gone. It’s slowing down my fast paced Las Vegas style show lol. I have five iPads and two iPhones. The alphabet is still on two of my iPads, but I am in fear of them disappearing on those. I am in touch via email with someone from Dropbox. But not getting it resolved. Please, please, please get on this dropbox.

Does anyone know if any other sharing sites work The same way dropbox used to with the navigation alphabet?

Broadwaymhl

I hope the folks at Dropbox read this. It seems your customers are talking about jumping ship because you haven't restored the alphabet bar. I hope you see how valuable and necessary it is for us all in these posts. Our fingers are crossed you'll bring it back as soon as you possibly can! Thank you!

VmaBob

I am also a musician and the Alphabet Navigation is critical in a live situation to navigate between charts. The removal has now meant a huge amount of work for each gig to have everything lined up numerically. The alternative is fiddling around on stage in front of an audience all focussed on us. An ill thought out decision by Dropbox. Not happy.

maeong89

Since i updated my dropbox, i have lost the letter scrolling shortcuts to the right of the page, instead there is now a scroll button that’s offered which is inconvenient for me. Can dropbox perhaps go back to having the letter shortcuts in the right hand side pls?

maeong89

Megan, i am also having the same problem. Cannot locate the alphabet quick slider bar. I use dropbox plus on my mobile phone and have cleared the cache.

rockwellband

Just happened to me, too. It's now taking forever to scroll from a song starting with A to one way down the list. Bring back the A-Z navigation. What would possess them to remove it? With all the complaints about it, you would think they would simply put it back.

Broadwaymhl

Agreed, and it's been Radio Silence from them since they said they were working on the problem...

Michael 103673

1. I do like the new format of having file names wrap so you can see the entire name. The old style of File…name with dots imbedded in the name was quite cumbersome and misleading at times.

2. It appears that the Alphabet Slider has been replaced with a scroll element (circular with three horizontal bars).

May I suggest that you give the user an option in Settings to Show Alphabet Slider or Show Scroll Element.

Thanks,

Michael

JYamas

Why would Dropbox remove the alphabet slider tool on the side of the files in their new version? That's like going backwards in technology and ergonomics. Please bring it back!!

Hannah

Hey everyone, thanks for reporting this and for your feedback.

Our team has made an update on this, which you can find here.

I hope it helps.

Badibiagio

Hi, the scrubber function is VERY inconsistent and slow to navigate. I imagine I am not alone in the feeling. I would love to have the alphabet navigation back (please!).

Broadwaymhl

Agreed!!

GreggM

Agree 100%. The new scrubber button is still imprecise, jerks around and is slow and hard to use. My live shows suffer due to this☹️

Please, Dropbox - - return the alphabet index. We are desperate and begging. PLEASE!!

Badibiagio

Circling back to this thread…please bring back the alphabet navigation! 🙏