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LiemTa's avatar
LiemTa
New member | Level 1
7 months ago

Direct download link (dl=1) fails for files flagged as malicious by Dropbox

Hello Dropbox Support Team,

I’m encountering an issue where attempting to programmatically download files flagged as potentially malicious by Dropbox fails. Specifically, when modifying the shared link from dl=0 to dl=1, the link returns an HTML error page instead of allowing the file to be downloaded directly. Here is an example of an affected link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/73mxakjwb23lavtbvn99y/last-rtf.rtf?rlkey=j43to7kh8aygu1sxmsnxw3eng&dl=0

In the Dropbox web UI, when attempting to download, these files display a warning like:

Heads up! This file seems malicious
We found a file which is commonly associated with viruses. Be sure to trust the sender before downloading.

This confirmation requirement appears to block automated workflows from downloading the file directly.

Key Details:

  • The standard dl=1 method works for most files, but fails for flagged files.

  • Even after replacing dl=0 with dl=1 in the shared link, the file cannot be downloaded directly.

  • The manual "Download anyway" option works through the browser but isn’t feasible for automation.

We're getting these links via the Dropbox Chooser using the "preview" link option. It's not possible for us to change to use "direct" link types because we need to be able to support folder selection.

Question:

Is there a way to create or modify a Dropbox shared link to bypass this confirmation step and allow direct downloads for flagged files?

3 Replies

  • DB-Des's avatar
    DB-Des
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 months ago

    Hi LiemTa,

    When modifying shared links, the dl=1 option is only meant for downloading the file, using raw=1 may be more appropriate for your use case.

    You can find information on these options in the help center here.

  • LiemTa's avatar
    LiemTa
    New member | Level 1
    7 months ago

    raw=1 works on the affected file. Is it safe to use raw=1 to programmatically download all shared files? I was unable to find any documentation on its usage. Thanks.

  • DB-Des's avatar
    DB-Des
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 months ago

    Hi LiemTa,

    The method we suggested is safe to use. It is part of official documentation, and we would only recommend approaches that have been thoroughly reviewed. 

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