Dropbox is amazing as a collaborative tool - and collaboration goes both ways, so while you might be great at sharing files with your team, not everyone is. Don’t worry though, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck without your files - you can just request access and carry on!
You might have seen us sharing tips on how to share your files with others here, well now we are going to flip that, and explain how you can request someone else’s files.
Let’s say that you discuss a file with a teammate in a meeting, and they promise to share the file with you. The next day, you notice you don’t have access yet. Looks like your teammate got pulled into a meeting right after you spoke and completely forgot to add you to the file. No problem, you can use Dropbox file requests to eliminate stress for you, and for them!
Some other reasons you might want to use file requests:
- Anyone can send you a file you've requested, whether they have a Dropbox account or not.
- All the files you collect are automatically organized into a Dropbox folder you choose.
- People who upload files to your file request cannot access your Dropbox account. Only you can view files uploaded by others, unless you decide to share them.
That all sounds good, so how do I request the files I need? Easy, just follow the steps below.
- Sign in to dropbox.com.
- Click File requests in the left sidebar.
- Click New request on the right-hand side.
- Under Title, enter a name for your request.
- Under Description, add details about the request, if you like.
- Under Folder for uploaded files, you'll see the path to a new folder for your requested files. If you'd like to change the destination, click Change folder.
- Click Create and type the email or name of the person (or people) you’d like to request files from. They’ll receive an email about your request.
If you already know the exact link of the file you want access you can simply add it to the request:
- To copy a link instead, click Copy next to Share a link instead. You can paste the link into an email, message, or wherever you’d like people to access it.
- Click Share. You’ll receive an email confirmation, and an email notification when files are uploaded to your file request.
Now you can get access to your files in no time! And if that wasn’t enough info, you can learn even more here.
Tell us how you collaborate with your team in the comments below.
