Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Access public shared files without authentication
Dear community,
I was wondering if it is possible to use a the ruby dropbox API to access and download publically shared files without authentication?
You can do that from the web as long as you have the URL but I could not find any way to make this possible inside my app.
Any help on how I can make this work will be appreciated :)!
- If you have a shared link for the file, the simplest way to download it is to modify the URL parameter(s) as shown here:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/force-download
You can then download from the modified link.
Otherwise, if you do want to use the API, you can use the /2/sharing/get_shared_link_file endpoint:
https://www.dropbox.com/developers/documentation/http/documentation#sharing-get_shared_link_file
5 Replies
- Mark
Super User II
*moves to API forum* - Greg-DB
Dropbox Community Moderator
If you have a shared link for the file, the simplest way to download it is to modify the URL parameter(s) as shown here:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/force-download
You can then download from the modified link.
Otherwise, if you do want to use the API, you can use the /2/sharing/get_shared_link_file endpoint:
https://www.dropbox.com/developers/documentation/http/documentation#sharing-get_shared_link_file Oh.. this DL=1 is just what I needed! Thank you so much :)!
P.S.
Unfortunately when I put it as a download link in ruby it still does not work even though it works through brower. :/- Greg-DBHow does it fail exactly? Can you share your code?
One thing to be aware of is that the dl=1 link will return a redirect first, so make sure your HTTP client will follow redirects. Hello Greg,
Your answer is correct, it is me who is faulty.It seems the dl=1 solution is not a direct link but when requested it sends a response with the direct link.
I had to work this over with ruby so I can tell ruby to get the request and THEN use it as download source.
Thank you for the help and dedication!
About Dropbox API Support & Feedback
Find help with the Dropbox API from other developers.
