
Dropbox dropping 'Public' folder - mparlane
Hi _______,<p>We’re always looking to improve the Dropbox sharing experience. The Public folder was the first sharing method we introduced, and since then, we’ve built even better ways for you to share securely and work together with your team.<p>As a result, we’ll soon be ending support for the Public folder. Dropbox Basic users will be able to use the Public folder until March 15, 2017. After that date the files in your Public folder will become private, and links to these files will be deactivated. Your files will remain safe in Dropbox.<p>If you’d like to keep sharing files in your Public folder, you can create new shared links. Just make sure to send the new URLs to your collaborators.<p>In addition to shared links, we have a number of sharing options designed to make collaboration easier and give you more control. To learn more, visit our Help Center.<p>The Dropbox team
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rkagerer
I wrote an open letter to Dropbox in the form of a Feature Request on their
website, asking they change their minds. Overnight it rocketed up to #6 on the
list of top-requested items, and my inbox was inundated with comments from
other irate users. Unfortunately Dropbox censored the request from their site
after it hit the front page on Slashdot.

[https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/12/16/2111220/dropbox...](https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/12/16/2111220/dropbox-
kills-public-folders-users-rebel)

Here's a snapshot of the original letter and a sampling of comments:
[https://pste.eu/p/Gyvk.html](https://pste.eu/p/Gyvk.html)

Despite the fuss, I did keep my most critical links pointed to less ephemeral
locations. For me, it's just an inconvenience. But after hearing all this
feedback, I have a lot of empathy for folks who didn't know better and are
really invested in Public folder links.

If the looming retirement of Public folders will cause you grief, I suggest
making some noise about it on social media! Who knows, you might just get
lucky and catch the eye of a decision maker at the company. I'm sure if they
were motivated, they could come up with a migration solution for the legacy
URL's.

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jibsen
This was a very convenient way to share files because links were direct. Some
people even used the public folder to host small static sites.

Interestingly their help site lists the change as March 15, 2016 instead of
2017, but perhaps they got all the dates wrong there [1]. At least I got the
same email.

[1]: [https://www.dropbox.com/help/16](https://www.dropbox.com/help/16)

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TeMPOraL
Woke up, read the e-mail, literally opened HN in order to make the fuss.

I'm _really_ sad about this. They're removing one of their best features - and
for me, one of the most useful.

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BinaryAcid
Does this mean that you can only share files with people who have Dropbox
accounts? Typically, I would just give out a link to something in my public
folder. If so, this changes a lot.

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johnj2
Worst company ever! All my links are going to die? Ridiculous.

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manmatteo
I can't see why they wouldn't at least leave old links working. This is a very
big issue for many.

