You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Make offline files visible in the android filesystem
I think you should make files stored offline on Android available in the file system.
As it is now, the dropbox files marked as 'available offline' are hidden from the rest of the operating sys...
Jay
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi everyone, we appreciate the feedback on how to improve the Dropbox mobile app.
This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app.
This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app.
Wrong answer Jay !
The Android app used to function as people on this thread are asking for it to function. Perhaps you did not notice that many of the comments indicate that they preferred the prior functionality and want it restored. We know this is possible, because it used to function the way THE CUSTOMER wants.
Or is it just that Dropbox believes that they know best what the customer wants—even if the customer is telling them, "This is NOT what I want!"? You know, if business school taught me anything, it was that the number one rule of business is: "The customer is ALWAYS right." The second rule of business is: "If it happens that the customer is not right, refer to rule number one." Or, maybe, Dropbox has decided that its business is resilient enough that if the customer does not like the product, they can take their business elsewhere. There are alternatives. And, it seems that is where you are trying to send people. Not a sustainable model, if you ask me. But, you're not asking. The "Community" may just be a place you all created to see how your customers think you have screwed up your product and have a laugh at those customers. Good luck.- If Dropbox continues to insist that this is the correct behavior, when you removed the key feature of the application, namely the ability to sync files between devices, I can find another cloud provider... Bye
- Just because it is the expected behavior does not mean it is not possible. It absolutely is possible and is exactly how it used to work until you removed the feature. Don't insult us with obvious lies about it not being possible.
Seems like systems got re-architected, and this feature was a casualty of refactoring. Totally understand.
I know from a dollars and cents POV it doesn't matter, but if you needed a narrative to help validate this work getting added into the development pipeline. "@merryt has been referring users since 2010, helping convince companies to get business plans, and a paying member since 2014, but this feature along with a few others cut over the recent years were pivotal enough to a few work flows that he quit his plan in 2021"
I do understand and appreciate that these decisions happen. Thank you for letting us know that this feature isn't coming back @jay . Getting an official response is enough to say I am unsubscribing from this thread and abandon hope.
Cheers,
Tyler
Can anyone recommend a good alternative that isn’t Google Drive?
Jay wrote:
Hi everyone, we appreciate the feedback on how to improve the Dropbox mobile app.
...Jay, The application for Android used to work in such a way, so... "to improve"... 🤷 There is nothing to improve! Just get back the feature available on versions 202.2.2 and earlier (and might be one more later).
Jay wrote:
...
This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app.What are you saying? The versions I mentioned above are "impossible"?!... Strange... 🤔 Probably they are imaginary... They don't exist and never existed on the earth.
Oh... I forgot to mention that I'm using the version mentioned and it's working "as expected":
... As most people expect, not as you expect! 👆 So it's possible... definitely. 😉
“This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app.”
…
Customer: “Dear restaurant, your food tastes like garbage. Please make your food not taste like garbage.”
Restaurant: “This is the expected flavor of the food, so it’s not possible to make it not taste like garbage.”
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
> This is the expected behavior of the Android app, so it wouldn't be possible to change it for offline files to be visible outside the app
When I pay Dropbox every month, I'm paying for a service that keeps files in sync across multiple devices. I don't pay you for just the Android app. The Android app is just one element of the service you provide. What I expect from it is the same service I get everywhere else: keeping a folder on the device in sync without me having to think about it.
In other words, the current Android app behavior is NOT the behavior I expect from Dropbox. Go back to your roots and maintain the functionality that brought me to you in the first place.
No. Clock off.
- Love, Dropbox team.
Oh by the way, since I'm a developer myself, I read up on restrictions in Android 11 and 12, turns out, you can access the folders just fine, just not with Dropbox. Third party tools can, other apps can and some of the browsers even support Dropbox. Best 4 bucks I ever spent.
There's a list on reddit in r/Android with all the tools that can access restricted folders and can sync from cloud services, some from dropbox some from competing services. I don't have the time to read on linking so I'll just say: if you know where reddit is and what r/Android means, it should take you under a minute.
I mean I GUESS I don't care who syncs it. Bit disappointed, but from what I care this issue is solved.
There's this guy who says he syncs his savegames between PC and Android from 4 days ago so I'm happy. 😀
