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jjsk's avatar
jjsk
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago

Folder download

Per  https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/download-entire-folders  I can download any folder through the dropbox web interface.  How can I do this via the API?    I'm guessing the web client ...
API
Greg-DB's avatar
Greg-DB
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
8 years ago
The Dropbox API doesn't offer the ability to download entire folders like this, but I'll be sure to pass this along as a feature request. (The Dropbox web site uses a different, internal interface for this.)
jjsk's avatar
jjsk
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago

I think this would be nice resource saving feature.  I've seen all kinds of recursive download scripts that basically inundate the dropbox API with requests for each individual file.  Seems rather inefficient.   Thanks.

  • deFreitas's avatar
    deFreitas
    New member | Level 2
    8 years ago

    Here is a workaround, you can create a sharedlink for that folder

     

    curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/sharing/share_folder \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $TK" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{"path": "/legacy/teste-curl","acl_update_policy": "editors","force_async": true,"member_policy": "anyone"}'

     

    then download it using the preview_url

     

     

    wget -v https://www.dropbox.com/sh/{shared_link_id}?dl=1

     

     

    Like this example

     

     

    wget -v https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j1msw4e8dup2c5q/AAANYUWXcyBDgxVGkveU7AFla?dl=1

     

     

    After all you can unshare this folder for security reasons

     

     

    curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/sharing/unshare_folder \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $TK" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data "{\"shared_folder_id\": \"1896934208\",\"leave_a_copy\": false}"

     

    • jjsk's avatar
      jjsk
      Helpful | Level 5
      8 years ago


      This is nice thanks. I was also trying to decipher the download call through web client but it got a bit hairy.   The zip file comes from 

      https://dl-web.dropbox.com/zip_batch?_subject_uid=<dropbox id>

        but I could not figure out in developers tools panel what all the POST parameters were.

      • Greg-DB's avatar
        Greg-DB
        Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
        8 years ago
        The zip_batch endpoint isn't part of the public API, so I can't offer information on it or recommend trying to use it, as it is subject to change without warning.

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