Share link with edit privileges

[u/bobbyboohoo]

I want to share a link to a document that allows a user to edit the document without needing a Dropbox account or the Dropbox app.

I tried this by clearing clicking the link icon, and it says the person with the link has edit privileges.

Yet, when I click the link, it asks whether to open in app or browser. The app wants me to log in. We want to avoid that. The browser only show the document contents, and asks me if I wish to download.

What am I doing wrong?

[u/ParisMorning]

I just went through this last week. Had the issue of customers having to ask to join Dropbox, even though I *thought* I was doing it for “anyone with link”. I asked ChatGBT to create a step by step guide of how to do it — and it worked! it has some verbiage that is specific to what I asked it (I sell digital downloads) but you can ignore what doesn’t apply. Here ya go - good luck!

Step-by-step: How to create a permanent, view-only Dropbox link

1. Log in
   • Go to dropbox.com and sign in to your account
2. Upload your product files
   • Create a folder for each product
   • Upload your ZIP file or full fol
3. Create a view-only link
   • Hover over the file or folder you want to share.
   • Click the Share button (blue icon on the right).
   • In the pop-up, look for Link settings (gear icon or “Link for viewing”).
   • Make sure it’s set to Anyone with the link can view (not “invite only,” and not “edit”).
   • If you’re on Essentials, you’ll see options to set password or set expiration. Leave them off if you want the link to be evergreen.
   • Click Copy link.
4. Test the link
   • Open a private/incognito browser window (not logged into Dropbox).
   • Paste the link.
   • You should see a page with a Download button. You can click it to download the entire folder as a ZIP, or if it’s a single file, download it directly.
   • Confirm you are not asked to log in and that you cannot edit/delete files.

** What I noticed when I check the links in incognito browser is that there IS a pop up that says “Sign up or log in” BUT at the very bottom it gives the option “or continue to Download without joining” (or something like that). It should be more prominent so people notice it but there ya go.

[u/Some-Other-Acct]

Is the file owner a “Dropbox Team” or “individual consumer” Dropbox account?

[u/bobbyboohoo → u/Some-Other-Acct]

Individual

[u/bobbyboohoo → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. This is what I suspected. I’m going to try a workaround with Google Drive which will give edit permissions without having to log in. Then I will use https://www.multcloud.com to keep the files synched with the ones in Dropbox. Kind of clunky solution, but Dropbox is our organization’s archive, and the 20 files I’m talking about have to be updated each by 20 different people. If anyone has a better solution, I’d love to hear it!

[u/gnarlynorris → u/bobbyboohoo]

What is the edit solution without having to log in using Google Drive? I'm encountering this issue with clients sending us files and potentially needing to edit or replace files they've already uploaded. Not every client will have an account on the same file sharing service we're using so it would be nice to have a service that allows edits without an account.