One month down in 2025: How are your resolutions coming along? Check out how to get back on track here.
Forum Discussion
fstotz
8 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Re: Can't open file, which i have download from Dropbox using direct download link.
Hello,
the issue here is that the header "content-type" seems broken on the webpage since this week.
It is set to "application/binary" for all file types.
This is the reason that the android dowloadmanager can't open any more downloaded files from shared dropbox links.
Below you will find an example get sent by Postman, where the content-type is clearly wrong.
This was for an PDF but I realiced the same issue with a text file and an apk file.
Could you please inform your development that they broke something with their last update for the webpage last weekend?
Regards
postman
- Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff
Thanks! We'll look into it.
You may want to use `raw=1` instead of `dl=1` though, as `raw=1` is meant for displaying file content, and `dl=1` is only meant for downloading:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/force-downloadThe Content-Type is still as expected when using `raw=1`.
- sdouglasazNew member | Level 2Saved me, thanks! We depended on accurate content-type too from dl=1 flag.
- msegadoNew member | Level 2
FYI, this is still broken, at least when trying to download PDF files on Android 8. PDFs shared via links with"dl=0" or "dl=1" download to the device but give a "can't open file" error when I try to open them. The also have a generic icon instead of a PDF icon in the file viewer, so I'm guessing Android is storing the Content-Type type of the download as metadata somewhere. (Emailing the downloaded file fixes it, I assume because the Gmail corrects the Content-Type in the process.)
About Dropbox API Support & Feedback
Find help with the Dropbox API from other developers.5,950 PostsLatest Activity: 15 hours ago
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!