Open shared Dropbox links in the Dropbox mobile app

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With a recent update, Dropbox has made it quicker and easier to work with shared links on an iOS or Android device. Now when someone emails you a Dropbox link and you tap on the link to open the file in your default mobile browser, you are offered a button to Open in app. This change means you can preview, save, rename and favorite the file using the Dropbox app, bypassing the need to sign in to Dropbox via Safari or another browser.

iOS users will need to tap the Open in app button each time, but Android users can choose to always directly open files within the Dropbox app.

I tried this new feature on an iPhone and it worked flawlessly. When I opened a shared Dropbox link using the Open in app button, I was kicked over to the Dropbox app with a preview of the document or photo. I could then save the file to Dropbox by tapping the triple-dot button in the upper-right and selecting Save to Dropbox. And for files I had already saved to Dropbox, the Open in app button takes me right to the file, skipping the preview step.

According to Dropbox, “if it’s a Microsoft Office file like an Excel spreadsheet or Word document, you can edit the file right from the Office apps on your device.” I don’t have Word on my iPhone, but if I did, I could tap the edit button when previewing a Word doc to open Word to edit the doc.

The recent update to the Dropbox app also introduced the ability to save a file to Dropbox from anywhere on iOS.

Dropbox is a free app for iOS and Android.