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Overview

The Dropbox connector in DryvIQ allows you to analyze, migrate, copy, and synchronize files to your Dropbox account from cloud storage repositories and on-premise network file shares. The first step is to create the Dropbox connection by providing the connection information required for DryvIQ to connect to the server. The connector can be created using a standard Dropbox account or a Dropbox for Business account. However, when creating a connection using a Dropbox for Business account, you must use an Administrator account. Standard accounts will return an error from the Dropbox for Business platform. 

Creating a Connection

1. Expand the Manage section in the left navigation menu.

2. Click Connections.

3. Click Add connection.

4. Select Dropbox for Business as the platform on the Add connection modal.

5. Enter the connection information. Reference the table below for details about each field.

6. Click Sign in with Dropbox for Business.

7. On the Dropbox API Request Authorization modal, enter the Email and Password required to log in to the account and click Sign In. Only an Administrator account can be used for Dropbox for Business. Standard accounts will return an error from the Dropbox for Business platform.

8. Click Allow when prompted to authorize the connection.

9. You will see a green "Connected” message on the bottom of the modal when DryvIQ establishes connection. (If the connection fails, verify the information you entered.)

10. Click Done to finish creating the connection. 

Add Connection Modal for Dropbox for Business

Dropbox for Business Login

Allow Access to Dropbox 

Features and Limitations 

Platforms all have unique features and limitations. DryvIQ’s transfer engine manages these differences between platforms and allows you to configure actions based on Job Policies and Behaviors. Use the Platform Comparison tool to see how your integration platforms may interact regarding features and limitations. 

Author Preservation

The Dropbox connector uses "per-request impersonation." This means DryvIQ makes requests to the platform on behalf of the account owner, not the administrator. Therefore, files created by other users will fail to upload unless the account owner mounts the shared parent folder into their Dropbox drive before uploading the file. (See https://help.dropbox.com/files-folders/add-shared-folder  for more information.) Failed uploads will be logged with a message similar to the following example: "[PermissionFailure] The account 'Joe Smith' is not authorized to perform the requested operation."

Missing or unknown account in Dropbox

If a job is set to impersonate an invalid or unknown Dropbox user during author preservation, DryvIQ will log an error in the Job Activity report. You will see an “Unknown failure” in the job activity with an error description that reads, “Missing or unknown account in Dropbox: <email address>” (where <email address> will be the invalid account that was encountered).

Business Team Folders

Team folders transfer automatically with any transfer job; however, Team and Shared folders must first be mounted in Dropbox (Dropbox for Business API only surfaces mounted Team and Shared folders). If you choose to ignore shared items, Team Folders will not be transferred. The Dropbox for Business connector creates shared user folders by default.  To create shared folders in a Team Folder, the root Team Folder must be created in the Dropbox UI and selected as the root of the job. Shared folders that are created in a Team Folder support permission disinheritance.  Shared folders created in a user folder do not support disinheritance and will log a warning.

Character Sanitization

DryvIQ will sanitize file names that contain combined Unicode characters by replacing the characters with an underscore (_).

Dropbox Paper

DryvIQ does not support Dropbox paper. Dropbox Paper is a separate work space that stores Paper documents in your account on http://paper.dropbox.com . DryvIQ doesn't support have access to these documents as part of your Dropbox connection. 

Path Lengths

Dropbox does not impose restrictions for the total path length.

Segment path lengths are limited to 255 character. Segments are delimited by a forward slash (/). For example, <max 255 characters>/<max 255 characters>.

Shared Links

Editor access is preserved for shared links on containers only in Dropbox; shared links for files only support viewer access.

Versioning

The Dropbox platform treats content version history differently than other cloud platforms, with each native move and rename tracked as a new version. In order to only transfer true version history, enable the Scripting option on step 6 during job creation and copy the following JSON into the scripting box:

{
"transfer": {
"versioning": {
            "preserve": "native",
            "select": "published"
        }
    }
}

Version Limits

While Dropbox allows you to store unlimited versions, the platform restricts version downloads to 100. This means only the most recent 100 versions for a given file will be transferred to the destination. Refer to the Dropbox API Documentation for more information.  You can also find additional information in the Dropbox Forum.