The Public folder used to be the only folder in Dropbox accounts where people could share content with anyone. Files placed in the Public folder generated a link that could then be shared with anyone who had access to the link.
New Dropbox accounts created after October 4, 2012 no longer include an automatically enabled Public folder because users can now share links to any piece of content from any place in their Dropbox by using shared links.
Soon, you will be able to track all sharing activities though the activity log. However, sharing events that occur in the Public folder are not recorded in this log.
You should disable the Public folder if you prefer to have full visibility into your team’s sharing activities. Disabling Public folders will break the link that’s used to share those files, but it will not actually delete any of the files.
If your team is not ready to migrate to shared links, you can keep the Public folder enabled. As a best practice, we recommend that all teams eventually move to shared links, as it’s an easier way to share files.
After you’ve decided what’s best for your team, you can take action here.
If team members want to share files that have been in their Public folder, they can always move them to another location in their Dropbox and share links to them again (subject to the sharing permissions you’ve set).
