Learn how to make the most out of the Dropbox Community here 💙.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Why can't I download files and folders from Dropbox to my computer?
I am new!
this system as presently experienced is worthless ---so it can't be right? Can't download any folder or file unless through email
1)don't you have simple step by step instructions to download entire folder or pic without going through email
2)once email pic is received, there is no way to down load it --only drag to desktop giving an unacceptable file of 160kb per pic
where do i find instructions?
Hey Korky K. ,
Thanks for reaching out!
The "Downloads" folder is a default one where all the downloads you initiate from your browser go to. This is specific to your browser (and computer) settings and is not related to Dropbox.
There are ways to change the default location of your (browser's) downloads depending on the one you use and you should be able to find more about how to do this using a web search. The option to change this can usually be found in your browser's preferences or advanced settings.
I hope this helps!
Greetings,
I believe this goes beyond a small technical nuisance.
If you do not take care of this "small' problem, I am afraid that Dropbox is no longer relevant to cloud computing, at least for me and others who work with large files.
Like many people, I have very little room on the drive on my computer which the Dropbox can sync to.
On my Dropbox cloud, there are a series of folders which contain photos, videos, and documents with graphics which are all large in size. They are project files which need to be intermittently downloaded to be worked on for clients. These folders are cannot be constantly synced with the drive on my computer due to the fact that I do not have such room on my computers, but nevertheless need to be downloaded from time to time in order to work with them.
No longer having the download option available means that I no longer have the means to work with these files.
At this point, in order to have viable working access to these files, I need to re-format the drives on my computers to free up the amount of room as large as the folders(which is costly and probably impossible due to the size required), and then sync the folders to have Dropbox allow the files to be present and accessed locally on my computer. Since I need to work on them in more than one location, I will need to do this to every computer I am using, including my laptops. It will be difficult or impossible to even purchase hard drives large enough to contain these files for most of the computers I work with.
What does this mean? This means that any large set of files that I need to work with cannot be present within the Dropbox ecosystem.
This is not a workable system. It's not cloud computing in any reasonable sense.
Dropbox folks, if you are listening, do you realize this problem? Whether you do or not, we need a solution to this problem other than your simplistic answer to sync the files. Syncing the files as the only way to have access them locally is not a viable or relevant alternative for me or anyone who works with large files.
I realize that you may have the motivation to limit the amount of storage space your users are taking up on your cloud, as it ends up costing you more. And by not providing the download option, you are forcing the users to no longer put large files on Dropbox. If you charge a premium for the download ability feature, I will gladly consider it. Personally, I think that the Pro account should allow download capability.
And by not providing the download option, you are forcing the users to no longer put large files on Dropbox.
If you have to charge a premium to have the download ability feature, I will gladly consider it. Personally, I think that the Pro account should allow download capability. If you pay for more storage space, shouldn't it also have the option for having workable access to the files?
Please provide an answer and a solution to this non-trivial problem.
Sincerely,
HHY
- The goal of Dropbox is to get people to buy more space; functionality is not an issue for them. I've never seen a more complicated method of sharing files. They don't wish it to be a functional tool, but solely a personal storage device.
I can't share files with people, because I have an account with more capacity. If my friends don't have adequate capacity, they can't download the file, because it exceeds THEIR capacity. That is ridiculous. I've complained to Dropbox about this several times, and after telling me they 'thank me for me feedback', they don't give a **bleep**.
They want to force you to use the 'client' so you then need to upgrade your capacity. This is not a flaw, it's their goal.
Same here, I cannot download my own Word file form dropbox into my computer. Helpppppp?
Why hasn't dropbox answered this question
The option used to be there
I will consider cancelling dropbox and moving to icloud or google etc so that I can work with this idea as I do it when going to clients to save carrying files or large files
Having the mirror of dropbox on PC is just crap - that's not the way I want to work
So bloody frustrating!!!!!
If no answer I cancel account and leave this month and also tell others
Same problem.
Really? dropbox? no download option for a file inside of a folder?
Only i see and option to download in the main folder, but if i go inside. No option for download....
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
I'm having a similar issue.
I'm trying to download an MP4 file (35MB), it hangs on the download without going further.
Tried on IE, Firefox and Chrome, and with another PC.
It starts but it remains at 0%
I can't install the client here, it's the company pc.
If I try another file (a GIF for example) it works normally. Even a RAR file of 409MB works (ten times bigger), but not the MP4, so it's not the size of the file but the type.I'm downloading it, not opening for viewing.
Do you put some restriction on video files to avoid online streaming or something like that? If so, just zip the file before downloading (like Google Drive and MEGA), even without compression, and let us download it...
