File upload time via API

[jimi]

I've been using Dropbox API in a few of my applications for uploading smaller sized files using files/upload call (in Python SDK) however I was never able to find any information about how exactly the file is saved. When the call is successfully finished is the file considered to be uploaded and saved or does Dropbox do any more behind-the-scenes operations after it ends? 

[Greg-DB · Accepted solution]

Files are considered fully uploaded/committed by the time the upload API call completes. (I.e., when the API call response is sent by the API.) There isn't an additional delay after the fact, so other clients can access it immediately.

Note that there are a few exceptions around some additional metadata for the file:
- The file may not immediately appear in search results due to a delay in search indexing. (Accessing it directly or by listing a folder isn't subject to this delay though.)
- The file may not be immediately listed if you're calling list_folder with include_media_info=true. That additional media metadata is collected asynchronously, but this delay is generally short.