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When opening a shared link using Gmail, it alters the URL.

TBD2023

As I prepare to send a press release to my media contacts with my Dropbox folder link (that has view-only permissions) included, I've found that the link works only a few times after I click it in my test emails. But afterwards, the URL starts to unfurl the ampersands (&) as "amp;" and it breaks the link, giving 400 errors on all my devices.

i.e.

The original, working URL structure:

[...] rlkey=rjcrcap8ebtitcazxmlhi4zw0&st=yl5h2f17&dl=0

The 400 error version of the link:

[...] rlkey=rjcrcap8ebtitcazxmlhi4zw0&amp;st=yl5h2f17&amp;dl=0

When I delete the "amp;"s manually, the URL works again as it should.

Any idea why this is happening? I cannot share my Dropbox link until this is fixed.

For my tests, I am using the latest iOS both on a recent Macbook and an iPhone 14. Browser is Google Chrome or Safari (both seem to have the issue). Mail system I'm using is Gmail.

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Megan

Hey @TBD2023, let's see what we can find about this together!

Do you notice this behavior only when you try to open your shared link through your Gmail?

For instance, if you simply copy and paste the shared link on your browser, does the same thing happen then?

Also, you mentioned that the actual link works in the beginning, and then you start seeing the 400 error, right?

If I were you, I'd also try a different shared link just to notice if it acts the same way.

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

TBD2023

Hi @Megan,

I've noticed this happening when I click the link in both Gmail and Apple Mail.

Yes, when I copy-paste the link into a browser, it seems to work fine. The issue primarily comes from clicking the URL and having it unfurl to suddenly and randomly add "amp;" which causes the 400 error.

I've tried changing the shared link a few times over the past few days. I keep experiencing the same issue.

Thanks for looking into this with me!

Rich

TBD2023 wrote:
The issue primarily comes from clicking the URL and having it unfurl to suddenly and randomly add "amp;" which causes the 400 error.

It's not simply adding "amp" to the URL. The ampersand character is actually being converted to its HTML entity, which is &. This seems like it would be an issue with the mail client trying to encode the URL, and not specific to the particular service generating the link.