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Shared link asks viewers to request access. Why does this happen?
Greetings. I have a shared file set to be viewable by anyone with the link, and I've sent the link to those I want to view the file (see screenshot). However, when they access the link, Dropbox sta...
Hi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
Hello again, Hannah.
I was finally able to get the screenshot you suggested might be helpful here. It is included below along with some others that illustrate the issue I'm having.
First, as I showed in my initial post, these are the settings for the file in question:
It's set to allow access to anyone with the link, and downloads are disabled.
I've shared the link (via email, not via Dropbox's "Share Link" option) with a number of people. When they click on the link, they receive this notice:
(The person who shared this screenshot with me has a Dropbox account, but I'm not sure if or how many others I've shared the link with do—if that matters.)
I have shared many files in this way—as recently as about a month prior to this one—and recipients never had to do anything beyond clicking the link to be taken directly to the shared file.
When I click on the link to determine "Who Has Access" to the file in question, it lists me, plus the people who have so far requested access. Each is listed as "Can View," but when I view that drop down menu, it notes that these people can download the file despite my disabling that ability as pictured above:
Furthermore, from this same screen, when I move from "People" to "Links," it says that "Anyone with this link can view" (which hasn't been the case):
I hope this might help to determine why recipients must request access even though I have the file set to be viewable to anyone with the link.
Thanks again for your interest in my issue.
JasonSilverDBX
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi skepticalthinker ,
Jumping in here as a Product Manager for Dropbox Sharing to help out Hannah. Reading through your thread, this is very strange indeed. You've done everything right and I appreciate your patience in working through what is no doubt a frustrating experience. The best I can suggest here is to contact support for help. They'll be able to go through your specific situation and troubleshoot your specific link. Sharing a View Link with access set to "Anyone" should allow anyone - signed in or not - to access a web based preview of your content, and then from there to take further collaborative action like downloading, asking to join the content, etc.
Jason
Hi @JasonSilverDBX ,
Hopping in here to add some extra info we've uncovered as it looks like there was a recent update to how "Can View" links are generated.
When you send someone a "Can View" link, it now has a special "rlkey=" field. There may have been a similar access code in previous links that stayed in the URL as you navigated, but the issue we're running into now is that when you navigate into any of the folder structure of a "Can View" link, the rlkey disappears from the URL in the browser address bar, leaving access tied to the browser session, so if you were to copy the updated URL and open it in a new session or send it to someone else or open pages from your browser history expecting it to work, now you get either a "Sign Up" page or a "Request Access" page. This was NOT an issue with previous "Can View" links before this update.
We send out links to partners and agencies that then want to share specific links to specific folders in our links amongst their teams, but this update breaks that functionality and will cause confusion as we get kickbacks like, "our team is having trouble with that link", "we tried to request access", "it's making us create a Dropbox account and we would prefer not to do that".
We actually had a similar wave of these issues when shares suddenly defaulted to "Can Edit" invite links on our Dropbox a year or so ago, and manually switching to "Can View" for each share was the solution that made sharing viable, but this update brings back most of the issues we had with "Can Edit" links.
Regarding the issue described in my OP, and on the recommendation of JasonSilverDBX, I contacted Dropbox Support and found an answer to my question. Apparently, since the recent Dropbox update (with the new "rlkey" share links), when you share a file that has restrictions (e.g. downloading disabled) via a link, and the recipient is logged into Dropbox, that recipient does not have access until the person sharing the file approves it. Once the access is approved and the recipient adds it to their Dropbox, that recipient has full access to the file and any restrictions placed on that file are gone. This technically solved my problem, in that if I don't want recipients to have the ability to download shared files, I can inform them to log out of Dropbox before viewing the files (in which case they would view it in their browser as opposed to from their own Dropbox). However, I think this recent update that caused this issue has introduced unnecessary confusion and makes one of the helpful features of Dropbox Essentials more complicated.
This is not a great response. If you are a indeed a product manager then you should already have access to see the necessary details with this customer.
Sending them to contact support (which is a lower level than product manager, I guess) is just "passing the buck".
- Soo its now page 3 and now February 2024 - original post was Oct i assume 2023 .. and no affirmative solution .?? .. by by dropping this box !! Before Clients drop me !!
I have the same problem as this person:
I have a shared file set to be viewable by anyone with the link, and I've sent the link to those I want to view the file (see screenshot). However, when they access the link, Dropbox states they "do not have access to this file" and offers the option to request access, which I must individually approve. I have other files configured with these same settings, and those with whom I've shared those links can access them without any separate approval. I don't know why this particular file is different. Am I missing something?How do I give continuous access to share and see and download and edit a FOLDER to my team?
Hello mkeller
I was the OP on this thread, and I found a workaround for this issue. I suggest reading through the thread, especially page 3. See if that addresses your issue as it did mine.
I'm curious if this was ever resolved, as I am having the same issue. Everything was set up correctly, but certain users are being forced to request access? Could it have to do with their own Dropbox account settings?
Hi Hannah,
Ok, so I just realized what I am doing wrong. I didn't realize when creating a link that there was a selection to set View or Edit?! I've been using dropbox for a while now and TIL something new!! Sorry for bothering you.
It has not been resolved yet. But I did receive an email from dropbox and basically, the link in the pdf is not recognizing anything dropbox.com and that it is a dropbox issue. If by chance, the individual that receives the link has dropbox and is logged in, it works fine. It's just affecting those not logged in or do not have an account.
All of our links go out as
"can view"
It's not isolated to one link. It's happening to all of our links for about the last 2-4 weeks.
That is correct
To my knowledge, they are not disabled. I am not finding this option in Settings.
Someone w/ Dropbox had been reaching out but haven't heard anything lately. It had slowed down but is still doing it on the regular. Very frusturating when our settings are already set up to "can view".
I've started using Google Drive as this is too frustrating! When I get the chance I'll change all
750 of my listing to Google Drive!
Same problem. I have the info set to ANYONE WITH LINK ADDRESS...
removedanyone who has the link can access no sign-in requiredBut whoever I send that LINK to gets a blue box in top right corner saying "sign-in"HERE IS THE LINK!removed
I don't understand why this thread is marked "solved" because I don't see a solution (if there is a solution, please advise and ignore below).
This happened to me today when I needed to get someone documents for an urgent matter. If it says anyone with link can edit, etc., then it should be that way. I had to exit a meeting to investigate and approve. I didn't ask to require approval and didn't want it. My default sharing permissions are "Anyone with Link."
Dropbox documentation states:
- Log in to dropbox.com.
- Hover over the file or folder you’d like to share and click Share.
- Click Copy link.This will copy a link that follows your default link permissions. To change to a different kind of link:
- Follow the steps above.
- Click Manage.
- Select Link for editing or Link for viewing.
- Click Copy link.
It doesn't say anything about "Approval." Approval would be a nice option, but is unacceptable when not disclosed. Does Dropbox not understand that customers rely on the application working as published? Had I not been available to approve, this could have been very bad. This thread is over a year old, and is still a problem with no published solution when Googling for "why does copy Dropbox link require approval" (this thread is the only relevant item returned). Because of this my impression is that contacting support will be a waste of time since you'd obviously publish the solution or fix it if the was a solution. Since there does not appear to be a solution, we now have to look into moving to a different platform that works as published because I don't feel like I can trust Dropbox anymore.
BTW, maybe while you're fixing this, you should also fix your API to restrict to folders/subfolders and not require giving full root access to third parties, rendering it useless. i.e. Can't give my fax service root folder API access to send me faxes.
