Dropbox
Put Dropbox to work on your own records, inside your rules, with a person approving what it changes.
24 ways to read, 7 ways to write, each write switched on by you.
Quality checks
Built and tested with example responses.
- Ready to connect: doneEvery listed action is built in.
- Built and tested with example responses: doneEach action is built from the provider’s published API and tested against example responses, errors, rate limits and paging.
Connected, approved, proven.
The things teams do most with Dropbox, an example flow with a person in the loop, and what Nexra keeps as proof.
Top actions
- Copy file or folderApproval by rule
- Create file requestApproval by rule
- List file membersRead
Example flow
- Dropbox · List file membersDone
- Dropbox · Copy file or folderNeeds approval
- Nexra · Record the decision and result in the evidence chainProven
Example workflow. Routine runs go through on their own. Only a change your rules flag, such as one over a limit you set, waits for the right person, who sees the exact change and the rule before it reaches Dropbox.
What gets logged
- Whether it ran on its own or who approved it, and under which rule
- A fingerprint of the exact request sent to Dropbox
- Dropbox's reply: what it created or changed
- One entry in the evidence chain, linked to the one before
Try this in the sandbox
Run the whole flow with test data in your sandbox, then connect a Dropbox test account before you go live.
For developers
Technical detail
Dropbox files, folders, change cursors, shared links, file requests, sharing members, and team members, groups and team folders for business accounts.
Dropbox API docs- Source actions
- 24
- Destination actions
- 7
- Data types
- 21
What you can map
Reads are always available. Writes are off until you switch them on for a connection, and governed writes follow your policies.
Account1
- Get accountSource
The authorised Dropbox account.
File content1
- Download a fileSource
Copies a Dropbox file into Nexra, for example to read its text and tables. Returns a Nexra file reference, never the bytes or a link.
File copies1
- Copy file or folderDestinationProvider duplicate protectionApproval before production
Copies a file or folder to a new path. Shared folders cannot be copied.
File members1
- List file membersSource
Users, groups and invitees with access to a shared file.
File requests4
- Create file requestDestinationNot retried automaticallyApproval before production
Creates a file request that lets others upload into a folder.
- Get file requestSource
One file request with its upload count and deadline.
- List file requestsSource
File requests owned by the user.
- Update file requestDestinationProvider duplicate protectionApproval before production
Changes a file request's title, destination, description or open state.
File revisions1
- List file revisionsSource
Previous revisions of a file.
Files3
- Get metadataSource
Metadata for a file or folder.
- Search filesSource
Files and folders matching a query by name and, on supported plans, content.
- Move or renameDestinationProvider duplicate protectionApproval before production
Moves or renames a file or folder.
Folder changes1
- List folder changesSourceIncremental
Entries added, changed or deleted since a saved folder cursor (list_folder/continue). Deleted entries are returned with type deleted.
Folder cursor1
- Get latest folder cursorSource
A cursor for the folder's current state without listing entries. Save it and pass it to List folder changes later.
Folder entries1
- List folderSource
Files and folders in a folder, optionally recursive.
Folders1
- Create folderDestinationProvider duplicate protectionApproval before production
Creates a folder at a path. Fails if something already exists there.
Shared folder members1
- List shared folder membersSource
Users, groups and invitees of a shared folder with their access level.
Shared folders2
- Get shared folderSource
Metadata and policies of a shared folder.
- List shared foldersSource
Shared folders the user can access.
Shared links3
- Create shared linkDestinationProvider duplicate protectionApproval before production
Creates a shared link for a file or folder. If a link already exists Dropbox returns HTTP 409 shared_link_already_exists.
- Get shared linkSource
Metadata for a shared link URL, including its effective audience and access.
- List shared linksSource
Shared links the user created, optionally for one path.
Space usage1
- Get space usageSource
Storage used and allocated for the authorised account.
Team folders2
- Get team folderSource
One team folder by ID.
- List team foldersSource
Team folders with their status and sync setting.
Team groups1
- List team groupsSource
Groups in the Dropbox team.
Team members2
- Get team memberSource
One team member by team member ID, email or external ID.
- List team membersSource
Members of the Dropbox team with status, role and groups.
Team1
- Get teamSource
The Dropbox team's name and licence counts (business accounts).
Temporary links1
- Get temporary download linkSource
A link that streams a file's content for four hours, with the file metadata.
Upload links1
- Create one-time upload linkDestinationNot retried automaticallyApproval before production
Creates a one-time link that uploads a file to a path when the file is POSTed to it, for systems that hold the file content.
Access and limits
- Authentication
- Dropbox app key, app secret and refresh token
- Plans and access
- All Dropbox plans; team members, groups and team folders need a Dropbox Business team and a team-scoped app. Requires a Dropbox app with the files.metadata, files.content, sharing and file_requests scopes chosen; team operations also need members.read, groups.read, team_info.read and team_data.team_space.
- Test environment
- Use a development-status app with a test Dropbox account.
- Rate limits
- Per-user and per-app limits that Dropbox does not publish; HTTP 429 with Retry-After.
- Pagination
- Cursor continuation endpoints (list_folder/continue, search/continue_v2, list/continue, list_folders/continue, members/list/continue, team_folder/list/continue, groups/list/continue).
- Provider events
- Dropbox webhooks notify of changed accounts; changes are read with list_folder cursors (folder_changes.list). Flows run on demand, on a schedule, or when a scheduled check finds new or changed records.
Before you build a flow
- Files are downloaded into Nexra with file_content.get (through a temporary link Nexra fetches once and never returns). Uploads from Nexra are not implemented yet; use upload_links.create to get a one-time upload link.
- Deletes, permanent deletes, restores, shared-link revocation and sharing membership changes are intentionally not implemented.
- Paths resolve in the user's home namespace; Dropbox team spaces need a Dropbox-API-Path-Root header that this recipe does not send.
- Team operations (team.get, team_members, team_groups, team_folders) only work with a team-scoped app; this connection cannot switch between team and user scope, and user operations with a team token would need a Dropbox-API-Select-User header that is not sent.
- Team members use members/list and members/get_info (v1 routes in the official specification); the newer *_v2 variants are not used.
- Shared-link passwords are not accepted as input so they never pass through flow data.
- File request creation and upload links have no idempotency key; uncertain creates are not repeated automatically.
Developer reference
- Create the Dropbox credentials described above with the narrowest permissions your flows need.
- In Nexra, open Connect, then Connections, then New connection, choose Dropbox, enter its settings and credentials, and tick only the write actions you need. Connection guide
- Test the connection, then use its actions as flow sources and destinations. Flow guide
Machine-readable detail: GET /api/public/connect/connectors/dropbox and the Connections API.