Dropbox, Inc.

Dwayne Litzenberger

Anton Mityagin

David Euresti

Ambrus Csaszar

Maxime Larabie-Belanger

Peter Welinder

Bryan Jadot

Matt Holden

Andrew Bortz

Content items queued for synchronization between a client device and a content management system can be automatically prioritized to improve the sharing process. That is, the content items can be prioritized based on whether a share link has been created to the content item. A share link can enable a user to access the shared content item from a content management system. Content items that have been shared using a share link can be given higher priority to be synchronized prior to content items that have not been shared. The queued content items can be synchronized in the synchronization order resulting from the prioritization. Further, multiple shared content items queued for synchronization can be sub-prioritized based on one or more sub-prioritization criteria.

Prioritizing content item synchronization based on sharing

Methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable media for securely broadcasting shared folders from one client device to other client devices and synchronizing the shared folders over a local area network. A first client device, associated with a content management system, generates a secure identifier for a shared folder, using a shared secret key that is associated with the shared folder. The first client device announces the secure identifier over a local area network to other client devices on the local area network including a second client device. The first client device receives a synchronization request for the shared folder from the second client device. After authenticating, using the shared secret key, that the second client device has authorization to access the shared folder, the first client device synchronizes the shared folder with the second client device over the local area network.

Advanced security protocol for broadcasting and synchronizing shared folders over local area network

A content item on a content management system can be shared using a generated sharing link. The sharing link can be a custom network address, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), which allows the content item to be accessed without authentication. The sharing index and a content path of the content items can be listed in a sharing index used to identify the content upon a request initiated by the sharing link. The content management system can generate a content link to a content item upon receiving a sharing input from a user indicating the user wants to share a content item. Alternatively, in some embodiments, sharing links can be pre-generated by the content management system and stored on the client device. The sharing link can stored directly to a data buffer on the client device, such as a clipboard, where it can be accessed by the user.

Sharing a content item

A method, system, and manufacture for securely broadcasting shared folders from one client device to other client devices and synchronizing the shared folders over a local area network. A first client device, associated with a content management system, generates a secure identifier for a shared folder, using a shared secret key that is associated with the shared folder. The first client device announces the secure identifier over a local area network to other client devices on the local area network including a second client device. The first client device receives a synchronization request for the shared folder from the second client device. After authenticating, using the shared secret key, that the second client device has authorization to access the shared folder, the first client device synchronizes the shared folder with the second client device over the local area network.

The disclosed technology generates unique identifiers for content items in a multi-user network-based content management system. The generated identifiers satisfy at least the properties of, (1) the GUID is unique on the local client device; (2) the GUID is preserved across reboots, moves, renames, and content item modifications; (3) the GUID is not preserved when the content item is copied; and (4) the GUID is not reused after a content item is deleted. The unique identifiers allow the content management system to model each user account as a collection of content item objects and globally unique identifiers instead of as a directory-based hierarchy of content items.

Creating unique content item identifiers

Some systems allow a user to access content using both a native client application and a web interface. In these systems, the client application authorized to access a user account can assist with automatically logging a user into the web interface through the use of authentication tokens. In response to an authentication request, the client application can select a token and split it into multiple parts. One piece can be embedded in a URL and a second piece can be stored in a file. The file can also contain browser executable instructions that when executed combine the two pieces to re-create the token and send the re-created token to a server to authenticate the user. The client application can forward the URL to the browser, which can direct the browser to the file. The browser can execute the instructions thereby authenticating the user.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Dwayne Litzenberger