When you share a file or a folder with someone, you can decide which permissions they have:
- Can edit: Any team member you give this permission to can add, edit, delete, share, or download files in that folder.
- Can view: Any team member you give this permission to can view, download, share, and comment on files in the shared folder, but not add, edit, or delete files.
Not using Dropbox yet? See how Dropbox makes managing file permissions easy.
What are owner, editor, and viewer roles?
Members of a shared file or folder can have one of three roles: owner, editor, or viewer.
Owner
Only one member can be the owner of a folder. The creator of a shared folder is automatically the owner, unless they change the owner to someone else. If you create a subfolder within someone else’s parent folder, then they become the owner of the subfolder.
Editor
Any member you give Can edit permission to is an editor. They can add, edit, download, share, or delete files in the shared folder.
Viewer
Any member you give Can view permission to is a viewer. They can view, download, share, and comment on files in the shared folder, but not add, edit, or delete files.
Roles and permissions for members of a shared file or folder
Owner | Editor | Viewer | |
File and folder actions | |||
View folder members and their roles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
View folder contents | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Edit folder contents | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Comment on files in folder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
Unshare folder | ✓† | ✗ | ✗ |
| Download folder contents |  | | |
Member actions | |||
Invite and remove members | ✓‡ | ✓*‡ | ✗ |
Cancel invites and reinvite members | ✓ | ✓* | ✗ |
Determine who can be invited to the folder | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Determine who can manage membership of the folder | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Make another member the owner | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Change roles of other members | ✓ | ✓* | ✗ |
Email members | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Move a shared folder into a team folder § | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Leave the folder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*This is the default setting for shared folders. The owner of a shared folder can change this setting.
†Owners can only unshare a folder if the folder doesn’t have any shared folders inside of it and the folder isn’t inside another shared folder.
‡If a shared folder is created within a team account, only members of that team can invite and remove members.
§This only applies to team accounts.
How to manage your default sharing settings
To manage your default sharing settings:
- Log in to dropbox.com.
- Click your avatar (profile picture or initials) in the top right.
- Click Settings.
- Click the Sharing tab.
- Choose your default settings.
- Use Who has access to manage who can open your shared links.
- Anyone with the link: All the links you share are public. Anyone can open them.
- Only people invited: Only people you invite can access your files and folders. If someone who wasn’t invited receives the link, they can’t open it.
- Team members: Only other members on your team account can access your files and folders.
- Use What people can do to manage whether people can edit the files and folders you share.
- Can edit: Anyone who can open the shared link can edit the file.
- Can view: Anyone who can open the shared link can view and comment on the file, but not edit it.
- Use Who has access to manage who can open your shared links.
How to change a member’s access to a shared folder
To change a member's access to a shared folder:
- Log in to dropbox.com.
- Hover over the folder you’d like to change permissions for and click Share.
- Click Who can access.
- Click the dropdown next to a member’s name to manage their access.
- Select Can edit, Can view, or Remove.
- If you select Remove, choose if you want to leave the member a copy of the shared folder. Then tap Remove again.
- Open the Dropbox folder in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).
- Right-click the folder you’d like to manage.
- Select Share… next to the Dropbox icon.
- Click Who can access.
- Click the dropdown next to a member’s name to manage their access.
- Select Can edit, Can view, or Remove.
- If you select Remove, choose if you want to leave the member a copy of the shared folder. Then tap Remove again.
- Open the Dropbox mobile app.
- Tap “⁝” (vertical ellipsis on Android) or “…” (ellipsis on iOS) next to the folder you’d like to change.
- Tap Manage Access (Android) or Folder settings (iOS).
- Tap the area below [x] members.
- Tap a member’s name to manage their access
- Tap User Permission (Android) or tap Access (iOS) to choose Can edit or Can view.
- To remove members, tap Remove member, then tap Remove member again (Android), or tap Remove access, then tap Remove access again (iOS).
What's a permission conflict?
A permission conflict happens when you try to add a file to a folder that you don’t have access to. When this happens, Dropbox will create a new folder within your team member folder named “[filename] (permission conflicts)”.
How do I resolve a permission conflict?
The best way to resolve a permission conflict is to request edit access to the original folder and add your file. You can then delete the permission conflict file.
If you want edit access to a folder, you can request it directly from the file owner. You can reach out to your admin if you don’t know who the file owner is.
If you’re the owner of the shared folder, you can follow the instructions above to change the folder permissions to allow more people to edit.
