How to unshare a Dropbox file or folder

Updated Oct 10, 2023

If you shared a file with someone, you can stop sharing it any time. To do so, you'll first need to know how you shared the file:

Did you share a link to the file or folder?
Did you add a member to the file or folder?

Note: If the member you'd like to remove already downloaded the file or saved it to their Dropbox account, they will still have their copy of the file even if you unshare with them or delete a shared link.

Learn how to tell which method you used to share a file.

Not using Dropbox yet? See how Dropbox helps you effortlessly share files and folders.

How to delete a link to a file or folder

You can remove a member that gained access to a file or folder via a shared link you created by deleting the link. If you delete a link and click the Share button next to a file, all previous members still appear in the list, but the link is deactivated and no longer works for anyone.

To delete a shared link:

Log in to dropbox.com.
Click Shared in the left sidebar.
- Click More in the left sidebar if you don’t see Shared.
Hover over the name of the file or folder you want to unshare and click the share icon (rectangle with up arrow).
- In grid view, click “⁝” (vertical ellipsis), select Share, and select Share with Dropbox.
Click Settings or the gear icon in the top right.
Click either Link for editing or Link for viewing depending on which link you’d like to remove.
Click Delete link.
Click Delete.

Note: You can delete shared links that you didn’t create only if you have edit access, or if they’re web-based files, like Paper or Google docs.

Dropbox is moving to an updated shared link architecture where links are based on content rather than on users. This will affect how links are created and shared. The new links can be identified by the presence of an ‘rlkey’ parameter in the URL. For these links, the above behavior will perform differently:

Only users with edit access are able to delete shared links or modify link settings.
Instead of deleting a link, you can restrict access for certain users by following the instructions to remove a member from a file or folder below.
Users can add files or folders to their Dropbox accounts via shared links. If you want to remove someone’s access to a specific file or folder, you’ll need to both delete the shared link and remove the user from the access list.

How to remove a member from a file or folder

Log in to dropbox.com.
Click Shared in the left sidebar.
- Click More in the left sidebar if you don’t see Shared.
- You can also click ">" (right arrow) next to Folders in the left sidebar.
Hover over the name of the file or folder.
Click the share icon (rectangle with up arrow).
- In grid view, click “⁝” (vertical ellipsis), select Share, and select Share with Dropbox.
Click Who can access.
Click the dropdown menu beside the name of the person you want to remove from the file.
Click Remove.

Notes:

When you remove a member from a file, that person can no longer access your version of the file on dropbox.com or through their invite.
If the Remove option is greyed out, it's likely that the member is accessing the file or folder through a link to the file, rather than as an added member. If this is the case, you’ll see a message that says People who viewed via link can’t be removed from files. To remove access, you’ll need to delete the shared link that person is accessing the file from.
If you invited people to a folder, you can also unshare that folder.