Dropbox for Business customers now have a “view-only” feature

Dropbox for Business customers can start using a new option if they wish to share their work with colleagues, but don’t trust them enough to not mess up the files within. Beginning today, customers can mark their folders as “view-only” to users, allowing those they share with to view anything within, without having the power to change anything. Dropbox says that the read-only option is one of the most requested features of the service. The company elected to give Dropbox for Business customers first crack at the sharing feature rather than spreading it to all accounts. Administrators must activate the early access program through the admin panel before it can be used.

Today we’re excited to give Dropbox for Business customers early access to one of our most commonly requested features for shared folders: view-only permissions. You can now grant shared folder members the ability to view but not edit folder contents. Sometimes you have a large group of people — like the sales team — who need to view content in a shared folder, but only a few people — like the regional leads — who need to make edits to files. With view-only permissions, everyone has access to the latest version but editors can keep control over content. Wondersauce, a digital design agency, uses view-only permissions to collaborate better with clients. “It’s often helpful to let our clients see work-in-progress files and provide feedback for us along the way, but we’re the only ones who need to actually edit the designs. With view-only permissions, we can maintain better control and still make sure our clients are viewing the latest version,” creative director Eric Mayville explains. Dropbox for Business admins can turn on this new feature for their team in the Admin Console. You can also learn more about how view-only permissions work here. We love hearing from customers, so be sure to send us your feedback through the Admin Console as well.