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- Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Login
- Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox
- Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Folder
- Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Download
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1.this tool can only be used to sync OneDrive for Business library. It doesn't apply to SharePoint Online library. 2.If you don't have desktop version Office programs, you can't access Office files in local which is a normal behavior. We will discuss further based on your updates. Dropbox Folder Sync is a simple app for Dropbox that allows you to seamlessly sync folders outside the Dropbox folder. Pretty handy for syncing Firefox profiles, saved games, music library, Outlook data files etc., to Dropbox directly from their locations. Sync and Unsync to Dropbox just by using the right click menu on the folder. To share a file or folder with the Dropbox website: Sign in to dropbox.com. Click All files in the left sidebar. Hover over the name of the file or folder and click the share icon (person). When sharing with another Dropbox user, create a shared link. With Dropbox Transfer, you can send files up to 100 GB (or 250 GB with the Creative Tools Add- O n) without taking up space in your Dropbox. Recipients will be able to view and download your file—even if they don't have a Dropbox account.
-->This article outlines how to copy data to and from file system. To learn about Azure Data Factory, read the introductory article.
Supported capabilities
This file system connector is supported for the following activities:
- Copy activity with supported source/sink matrix
Specifically, this file system connector supports:
- Copying files from/to local machine or network file share. To use a Linux file share, install Samba on your Linux server.
- Copying files using Windows authentication.
- Copying files as-is or parsing/generating files with the supported file formats and compression codecs.
Prerequisites
If your data store is located inside an on-premises network, an Azure virtual network, or Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, you need to configure a self-hosted integration runtime to connect to it.
Alternatively, if your data store is a managed cloud data service, you can use Azure integration runtime. If the access is restricted to IPs that are approved in the firewall rules, you can add Azure Integration Runtime IPs into the allow list.
For more information about the network security mechanisms and options supported by Data Factory, see Data access strategies.
Getting started
To perform the Copy activity with a pipeline, you can use one of the following tools or SDKs:
The following sections provide details about properties that are used to define Data Factory entities specific to file system.
Linked service properties
The following properties are supported for file system linked service:
Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property must be set to: FileServer. | Yes |
host | Specifies the root path of the folder that you want to copy. Use the escape character ' for special characters in the string. See Sample linked service and dataset definitions for examples. | Yes |
userId | Specify the ID of the user who has access to the server. | Yes |
password | Specify the password for the user (userId). Mark this field as a SecureString to store it securely in Data Factory, or reference a secret stored in Azure Key Vault. | Yes |
connectVia | The Integration Runtime to be used to connect to the data store. Learn more from Prerequisites section. If not specified, it uses the default Azure Integration Runtime. | No |
Sample linked service and dataset definitions
Scenario | 'host' in linked service definition | 'folderPath' in dataset definition |
---|---|---|
Local folder on Integration Runtime machine: Examples: D:* or D:foldersubfolder* | In JSON: D: On UI: D: | In JSON: . or foldersubfolder On UI: . or foldersubfolder |
Remote shared folder: Examples: myservershare* or myserversharefoldersubfolder* | In JSON: myservershare On UI: myservershare | In JSON: . or foldersubfolder On UI: . or foldersubfolder |
![Share Share](https://www.anotherwindowsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/282-Aliceperm.png)
Note
When authoring via UI, you don't need to input double backslash (
) to escape like you do via JSON, specify single backslash.Example:
Dataset properties
For a full list of sections and properties available for defining datasets, see the Datasets article.
Azure Data Factory supports the following file formats. Refer to each article for format-based settings.
The following properties are supported for file system under
location
settings in format-based dataset:Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property under location in dataset must be set to FileServerLocation. | Yes |
folderPath | The path to folder. If you want to use wildcard to filter folder, skip this setting and specify in activity source settings. | No |
fileName | The file name under the given folderPath. If you want to use wildcard to filter files, skip this setting and specify in activity source settings. | No |
Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Login
Example:
Copy activity properties
For a full list of sections and properties available for defining activities, see the Pipelines article. This section provides a list of properties supported by file system source and sink.
File system as source
Azure Data Factory supports the following file formats. Refer to each article for format-based settings.
The following properties are supported for file system under
storeSettings
settings in format-based copy source:Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property under storeSettings must be set to FileServerReadSettings. | Yes |
Locate the files to copy: | ||
OPTION 1: static path | Copy from the given folder/file path specified in the dataset. If you want to copy all files from a folder, additionally specify wildcardFileName as * . | |
OPTION 2: server side filter - fileFilter | File server side native filter, which provides better performance than OPTION 3 wildcard filter. Use * to match zero or more characters and ? to match zero or single character. Learn more about the syntax and notes from the Remarks under this section. | No |
OPTION 3: client side filter - wildcardFolderPath | The folder path with wildcard characters to filter source folders. Such filter happens on ADF side, ADF enumerate the folders/files under the given path then apply the wildcard filter. Allowed wildcards are: * (matches zero or more characters) and ? (matches zero or single character); use ^ to escape if your actual folder name has wildcard or this escape char inside. See more examples in Folder and file filter examples. | No |
OPTION 3: client side filter - wildcardFileName | The file name with wildcard characters under the given folderPath/wildcardFolderPath to filter source files. Such filter happens on ADF side, ADF enumerate the files under the given path then apply the wildcard filter. Allowed wildcards are: * (matches zero or more characters) and ? (matches zero or single character); use ^ to escape if your actual file name has wildcard or this escape char inside.See more examples in Folder and file filter examples. | Yes |
OPTION 3: a list of files - fileListPath | Indicates to copy a given file set. Point to a text file that includes a list of files you want to copy, one file per line, which is the relative path to the path configured in the dataset. When using this option, do not specify file name in dataset. See more examples in File list examples. | No |
Additional settings: | ||
recursive | Indicates whether the data is read recursively from the subfolders or only from the specified folder. Note that when recursive is set to true and the sink is a file-based store, an empty folder or subfolder isn't copied or created at the sink. Allowed values are true (default) and false. This property doesn't apply when you configure fileListPath . | No |
deleteFilesAfterCompletion | Indicates whether the binary files will be deleted from source store after successfully moving to the destination store. The file deletion is per file, so when copy activity fails, you will see some files have already been copied to the destination and deleted from source, while others are still remaining on source store. This property is only valid in binary files copy scenario. The default value: false. | No |
modifiedDatetimeStart | Files filter based on the attribute: Last Modified. The files will be selected if their last modified time is within the time range between modifiedDatetimeStart and modifiedDatetimeEnd . The time is applied to UTC time zone in the format of '2018-12-01T05:00:00Z'. The properties can be NULL, which means no file attribute filter will be applied to the dataset. When modifiedDatetimeStart has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeEnd is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is greater than or equal with the datetime value will be selected. When modifiedDatetimeEnd has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeStart is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is less than the datetime value will be selected.This property doesn't apply when you configure fileListPath . | No |
modifiedDatetimeEnd | Same as above. | No |
enablePartitionDiscovery | For files that are partitioned, specify whether to parse the partitions from the file path and add them as additional source columns. Allowed values are false (default) and true. | No |
partitionRootPath | When partition discovery is enabled, specify the absolute root path in order to read partitioned folders as data columns. If it is not specified, by default, - When you use file path in dataset or list of files on source, partition root path is the path configured in dataset. - When you use wildcard folder filter, partition root path is the sub-path before the first wildcard. For example, assuming you configure the path in dataset as 'root/folder/year=2020/month=08/day=27': - If you specify partition root path as 'root/folder/year=2020', copy activity will generate two more columns month and day with value '08' and '27' respectively, in addition to the columns inside the files.- If partition root path is not specified, no extra column will be generated. | No |
maxConcurrentConnections | The number of the connections to connect to storage store concurrently. Specify only when you want to limit the concurrent connection to the data store. | No |
Example:
File system as sink
Azure Data Factory supports the following file formats. Refer to each article for format-based settings.
The following properties are supported for file system under
storeSettings
settings in format-based copy sink:Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property under storeSettings must be set to FileServerWriteSettings. | Yes |
copyBehavior | Defines the copy behavior when the source is files from a file-based data store. Allowed values are: - PreserveHierarchy (default): Preserves the file hierarchy in the target folder. The relative path of source file to source folder is identical to the relative path of target file to target folder. - FlattenHierarchy: All files from the source folder are in the first level of the target folder. The target files have autogenerated names. - MergeFiles: Merges all files from the source folder to one file. If the file name is specified, the merged file name is the specified name. Otherwise, it's an autogenerated file name. | No |
maxConcurrentConnections | The number of the connections to connect to the data store concurrently. Specify only when you want to limit the concurrent connection to the data store. | No |
Example:
Folder and file filter examples
This section describes the resulting behavior of the folder path and file name with wildcard filters.
folderPath | fileName | recursive | Source folder structure and filter result (files in bold are retrieved) |
---|---|---|---|
Folder* | (empty, use default) | false | FolderA File1.csv File2.json Subfolder1 File3.csv File4.json File5.csv AnotherFolderB File6.csv |
Folder* | (empty, use default) | true | FolderA File1.csv File2.json Subfolder1 File3.csv File4.json File5.csv AnotherFolderB File6.csv |
Folder* | *.csv | false | FolderA File1.csv File2.json Subfolder1 File3.csv File4.json File5.csv AnotherFolderB File6.csv |
Folder* | *.csv | true | FolderA File1.csv File2.json Subfolder1 File3.csv File4.json File5.csv AnotherFolderB File6.csv |
File list examples
This section describes the resulting behavior of using file list path in copy activity source.
Assuming you have the following source folder structure and want to copy the files in bold:
![Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox](https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/09/cw_ss_top_10_file-sharing_options_3x2_2400x1600_06_mediafire-100811090-orig.jpg)
Sample source structure | Content in FileListToCopy.txt | ADF configuration |
---|---|---|
root FolderA File1.csv File2.json Subfolder1 File3.csv File4.json File5.csv Metadata FileListToCopy.txt | File1.csv Subfolder1/File3.csv Subfolder1/File5.csv | In dataset: - Folder path: root/FolderA In copy activity source: - File list path: root/Metadata/FileListToCopy.txt The file list path points to a text file in the same data store that includes a list of files you want to copy, one file per line with the relative path to the path configured in the dataset. |
recursive and copyBehavior examples
This section describes the resulting behavior of the Copy operation for different combinations of recursive and copyBehavior values.
recursive | copyBehavior | Source folder structure | Resulting target |
---|---|---|---|
true | preserveHierarchy | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target folder Folder1 is created with the same structure as the source: Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5. |
true | flattenHierarchy | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target Folder1 is created with the following structure: Folder1 autogenerated name for File1 autogenerated name for File2 autogenerated name for File3 autogenerated name for File4 autogenerated name for File5 |
true | mergeFiles | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target Folder1 is created with the following structure: Folder1 File1 + File2 + File3 + File4 + File 5 contents are merged into one file with autogenerated file name |
false | preserveHierarchy | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target folder Folder1 is created with the following structure Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 with File3, File4, and File5 are not picked up. |
false | flattenHierarchy | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target folder Folder1 is created with the following structure Folder1 autogenerated name for File1 autogenerated name for File2 Subfolder1 with File3, File4, and File5 are not picked up. |
false | mergeFiles | Folder1 File1 File2 Subfolder1 File3 File4 File5 | The target folder Folder1 is created with the following structure Folder1 File1 + File2 contents are merged into one file with autogenerated file name. autogenerated name for File1 Subfolder1 with File3, File4, and File5 are not picked up. |
Lookup activity properties
To learn details about the properties, check Lookup activity.
GetMetadata activity properties
To learn details about the properties, check GetMetadata activity
Delete activity properties
To learn details about the properties, check Delete activity
Legacy models
Note
The following models are still supported as-is for backward compatibility. You are suggested to use the new model mentioned in above sections going forward, and the ADF authoring UI has switched to generating the new model.
Legacy dataset model
Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property of the dataset must be set to: FileShare | Yes |
folderPath | Path to the folder. Wildcard filter is supported, allowed wildcards are: * (matches zero or more characters) and ? (matches zero or single character); use ^ to escape if your actual folder name has wildcard or this escape char inside. Examples: rootfolder/subfolder/, see more examples in Sample linked service and dataset definitions and Folder and file filter examples. | No |
fileName | Name or wildcard filter for the file(s) under the specified 'folderPath'. If you don't specify a value for this property, the dataset points to all files in the folder. For filter, allowed wildcards are: * (matches zero or more characters) and ? (matches zero or single character).- Example 1: 'fileName': '*.csv' - Example 2: 'fileName': '???20180427.txt' Use ^ to escape if your actual file name has wildcard or this escape char inside.When fileName isn't specified for an output dataset and preserveHierarchy isn't specified in the activity sink, the copy activity automatically generates the file name with the following pattern: 'Data.[activity run ID GUID].[GUID if FlattenHierarchy].[format if configured].[compression if configured]', for example 'Data.0a405f8a-93ff-4c6f-b3be-f69616f1df7a.txt.gz'; if you copy from tabular source using table name instead of query, the name pattern is '[table name].[format].[compression if configured]', for example 'MyTable.csv'. | No |
modifiedDatetimeStart | Files filter based on the attribute: Last Modified. The files will be selected if their last modified time is within the time range between modifiedDatetimeStart and modifiedDatetimeEnd . The time is applied to UTC time zone in the format of '2018-12-01T05:00:00Z'. Be aware the overall performance of data movement will be impacted by enabling this setting when you want to do file filter from huge amounts of files. The properties can be NULL, which means no file attribute filter will be applied to the dataset. When modifiedDatetimeStart has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeEnd is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is greater than or equal with the datetime value will be selected. When modifiedDatetimeEnd has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeStart is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is less than the datetime value will be selected. | No |
modifiedDatetimeEnd | Files filter based on the attribute: Last Modified. The files will be selected if their last modified time is within the time range between modifiedDatetimeStart and modifiedDatetimeEnd . The time is applied to UTC time zone in the format of '2018-12-01T05:00:00Z'. Be aware the overall performance of data movement will be impacted by enabling this setting when you want to do file filter from huge amounts of files. The properties can be NULL, which means no file attribute filter will be applied to the dataset. When modifiedDatetimeStart has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeEnd is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is greater than or equal with the datetime value will be selected. When modifiedDatetimeEnd has datetime value but modifiedDatetimeStart is NULL, it means the files whose last modified attribute is less than the datetime value will be selected. | No |
format | If you want to copy files as-is between file-based stores (binary copy), skip the format section in both input and output dataset definitions. If you want to parse or generate files with a specific format, the following file format types are supported: TextFormat, JsonFormat, AvroFormat, OrcFormat, ParquetFormat. Set the type property under format to one of these values. For more information, see Text Format, Json Format, Avro Format, Orc Format, and Parquet Format sections. | No (only for binary copy scenario) |
compression | Specify the type and level of compression for the data. For more information, see Supported file formats and compression codecs. Supported types are: GZip, Deflate, BZip2, and ZipDeflate. Supported levels are: Optimal and Fastest. | No |
Tip
To copy all files under a folder, specify folderPath only.
To copy a single file with a given name, specify folderPath with folder part and fileName with file name.
To copy a subset of files under a folder, specify folderPath with folder part and fileName with wildcard filter.
To copy a single file with a given name, specify folderPath with folder part and fileName with file name.
To copy a subset of files under a folder, specify folderPath with folder part and fileName with wildcard filter.
Note
If you were using 'fileFilter' property for file filter, it is still supported as-is, while you are suggested to use the new filter capability added to 'fileName' going forward.
Example:
Legacy copy activity source model
Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property of the copy activity source must be set to: FileSystemSource | Yes |
recursive | Indicates whether the data is read recursively from the subfolders or only from the specified folder. Note when recursive is set to true and sink is file-based store, empty folder/sub-folder will not be copied/created at sink. Allowed values are: true (default), false | No |
maxConcurrentConnections | The number of the connections to connect to storage store concurrently. Specify only when you want to limit the concurrent connection to the data store. | No |
Example:
Legacy copy activity sink model
Property | Description | Required |
---|---|---|
type | The type property of the copy activity sink must be set to: FileSystemSink | Yes |
copyBehavior | Defines the copy behavior when the source is files from file-based data store. Allowed values are: - PreserveHierarchy (default): preserves the file hierarchy in the target folder. The relative path of source file to source folder is identical to the relative path of target file to target folder. - FlattenHierarchy: all files from the source folder are in the first level of target folder. The target files have autogenerated name. - MergeFiles: merges all files from the source folder to one file. No record deduplication is performed during the merge. If the File Name is specified, the merged file name would be the specified name; otherwise, would be autogenerated file name. | No |
maxConcurrentConnections | The number of the connections to connect to storage store concurrently. Specify only when you want to limit the concurrent connection to the data store. | No |
Example:
Next steps
For a list of data stores supported as sources and sinks by the copy activity in Azure Data Factory, see supported data stores.
Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com) is an amazingly useful product. I use it a lot, and I rely on it a lot.
But I had a real problem with it – sharing a folder with a new work group lately just wouldn’t work. We couldn’t figure out why. Nothing looked wrong, but updates to the original files we’d shared around never appeared.
The back story
I’ve had a folder set shared across all my various Macs and IOS devices for ages, and I’ve had another folder shared with some colleagues for months – all working perfectly, with file updates from any of us turning up for everyone else. Brilliant.
A few months ago, I started using Dropbox with a new group of people I’m working with, and to facilitate that process, we set up a new Dropbox folder and shared it around.
At least, thats what we thought we had done, but it just didn’t work.
Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox
We got all the original files shared around, but over the coming weeks the complaints began. Updates weren’t turning up. Key files we needed for meetings didn’t appear for others. We had got this wrong, but it didn’t look wrong.
We’d try sharing the folder again. All the new files then turned up in a fresh copy of the folder with a different version number. However, further updates still just… didn’t appear.
Head scratching ensued. I know this works for my other folders, so why isn’t this new folder, that another member of my team created and shared, working for me (or the rest of our workgroup?)
Fast forward to today, when I was setting up Dropbox on a new computer under a new account here at my office, and I managed to accidentally create the same issue – the new account wasn’t seeing updates to a shared folder that a number of us are otherwise using fine (and have been for months).
I did some experimentation, and I figured it out.
In the hope of saving others the same grief, I’ve written down, here, what I’ve learned today. What I’ve learned is that Dropbox is working fine, but some aspects of the Dropbox user interface, specifically some confusing terminology, makes it easy to think you’re doing it right, when you’re actually just… doing it wrong.
The problem
The interface for Dropbox is confusing. The crux of the confusion is one, little, word:
Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Folder
“Sharing”
The Dropbox user interface uses that one little word to describe two completely different outcomes that it can deliver.
One outcome offers continuous future updates. The other offers a single snapshot copy of the original, with no future updates in either direction.
The distinction is determined by the person who initiates the ‘Sharing’ operation, and if they have chosen the wrong mechanism, the outcome can be different to what you expect.
Your recipient gets your files, and all looks good. But your recipient will never see any future file updates, and nothing they change will be reflected back to you.
If your intention is to collaborate within a workgroup and this happens, it can obviously be a significant source of frustration. If you’re trying to convince a new group of people about how cool Dropbox is, this tends to get in the way of that outcome too!
Time to delve into Dropbox terminology to understand what is happening.
Dropbox has two fundamental ways to provide access to files:
a) Sharing a folder
b) Sharing a link to a folder
The confusion stems from the fact that Dropbox uses the term ‘Sharing’ to describe two entirely different outcomes.
In my view, Dropbox should call the second choice Sending instead of Sharing (as in: “Sending a link to a snapshot copy of a folder”, and then things would be a lot less confusing.
Sharing a folder results in an environment where all future changes in that folder are shared to all participants dynamically.
Sharing a link to a folder results in the recipient obtaining a moment-in-time snapshot of the sender’s folder and contents, an ‘uncontrolled copy’, that is dissociated with the original sender’s folder.
This is why the latter can be used to deliver files to people who aren’t actually Dropbox users – and its a darn useful feature, as an alternative to (say) emailing large attachments around (including to non-Dropbox users), if that is what you actually want to do.
Further confusion is created by the fact that the recipient of a link to a folder has the option (if they are already using Dropbox) to ‘Add’ the link to their Dropbox environment.
Doing this creates the visual impression that full (bilateral) sharing has been engaged – the files appear in your directory structure precisely as if you’d bilaterally shared them. But you haven’t.
How it happens
It is the originator of the sharing process that controls this, not the recipient of the invitation.
Indeed, if you see a link invitation in email, its already too late – and you need to get the sender to go back and do it ‘the other way’.
One of the reasons its easy for the sender to get this wrong is that if you browse your filesystem via your Dropbox.com home page, there is a ‘link’ option that helpfully appears to the right of each folder you move your mouse over. Thats the wrong choice, right there, just begging you to click on it!
The rule to apply – as a sender
Cleanmymac x 4 3 0 8. If you want to offer dynamic-update access to a folder and the approach you’re taking to do it uses the word link anywhere, stop… you’re doing it wrong ?
Instead, go into the ‘Sharing’ menu on the Dropbox.com web page and use the ‘New shared folder’ button to initiate sharing of a new folder, or select your existing (already being shared) folder from the provided list under that ‘Sharing’ menu and invite others to join you via that mechanism.
You can also share a folder from the Mac OS X finder directly:
From the Mac OS X finder, right-click on the folder inside the Dropbox area, select the Dropbox context-sensitive submenu, and you’ll get three choices:
- Browse on Dropbox Website
- Share Link
- Share This Folder…
Again, that wrong choice is hovering there in front of you, namely ‘Share Link’.
The right answer is ‘Share This Folder’… and again, the confusion is caused by both options using the word ‘Share’. They look like sort-of the same thing, but they’re actually quite different.
How to tell the difference – as a recipient
If you get an email invitation to access a Dropbox link, but you really wanted to dynamically share their folder, then your sender has got it wrong – don’t click on the link, all you’ll wind up with is a moment-in-time copy.
Instead, tell the sender to delete that pending link at their end (via the ‘Links’ menu on their Dropbox.com home page) because they are doing it wrong.
Next, ask them to try again to share the folder by using the ‘Sharing’ menu on their Dropbox home page to do it, and by specifically avoiding any approach that uses the word ‘link‘ to do it.
If you do not get an email invitation, but if instead your Dropbox client pops up on screen and tells you someone has shared a folder with you, then – huzzah! – the right thing has happened.
Its the absence of that email invitation that is the success factor here (!)
Now, you can simply accept that invitation via the Dropbox client.
Alternatively, you can log in to your Dropbox.com home page, where you will see the invitation waiting under the ‘Sharing’ menu item (Not under the “Links” menu!)
On that ‘Sharing’ page, just view and accept your ‘New shared folder invitation’.
The folder that turns up is now a properly shared one, with dynamic updates between all participants.
How to unscramble your current eggs
If you’ve already been doing this for a while and you’re not quite sure what files in your local Dropbox folder are links and what are being truly ‘shared’ (in both directions), here’s how to find out:
Start at your dropbox.com home page.
Under the ‘Sharing‘ menu, you can see what folders you are fully sharing (automatic updates).
You can add and remove people from existing shared folders here, and you can create new shared folders from here to invite people into.
Under the ‘Links‘ menu, there are two separate tabs:
- “Your Links”: This lists links you have created and emailed to others to access. If you’re done with some (or all) of them, delete them from here to invalidate the links previously sent out via email
- “From others”: This lists links you have accepted from others, and you can delete them from here to clean up your world a little when you’re done with them.
Note also that you can be (truly) sharing a folder at the same time as you can be the recipient of a link to an older version of the same folder. They will show up with exactly the same name, once under your ‘Sharing’ menu and once under your “Links” menu.
Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Download
You can delete the ‘link’ entries with impunity as they have no impact on the operation of the (truly) shared folder of the same name.
Conclusion
In the end, this was a lightbulb moment thing for me – I just hope this helps someone else avoid having to find that lightbulb from scratch.
I also hope that Dropbox improve this terminology in their service in the future, reserving the term ‘Sharing’ for one option, perhaps moving to a word like ‘Sending’ in association with their ‘link’ feature.
Sharemate 1 1 – Share Local Files Via Dropbox Account
It might also be nice to add in a few relevant warnings here and there (including in the email invitation for a link) to make it clear that the link approach isn’t actually offering an update service for the files concerned.
This so might other Dropbox users to avoid the head-scratching that I (and surely others) suffer from as a result of all of this.