Dropbox

provider: "dropbox" · Import and export · Generally available The Dropbox connector links a folder in a personal Dropbox or a team space to a vault, in either direction.

Check the providers array from GET /connectors/v1/connections before showing a Dropbox option in your UI. The only scope tier is dropbox.readwrite.

Browsing

Browse with no parameters to get one item: the root of the connected account. For a team account it is the team space, named after the team; otherwise it is named Dropbox.

Root browse response

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "3235641",
      "name": "Dropbox",
      "kind": "my_drive",
      "container_id": "3235641",
      "browse_ref": { "kind": "container", "container_id": "3235641" },
      "import_ref": { "folder_id": "dropbox:namespace-root", "container_id": "3235641" }
    }
  ]
}

Descend with the browse_ref fields. To import the whole account, use the root’s import_ref as the link’s remote. Folder ids (id:…) are stable across renames and moves. A link’s identity is the root container_id plus folder_id; the display path never participates, so moving or renaming the folder does not break the link.

Importing a folder

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/connectors/v1/transfer \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "direction": "import",
    "connection_id": "conn_abc123",
    "remote": {
      "container_id": "3235641",
      "folder_id": "id:a4ayc_80_OEAAAAAAAAAXw",
      "path": "/Matters/Smith v. Hospital"
    },
    "vault_id": "vault_abc123"
  }'

Everything under the selected folder is imported recursively. Dropbox cloud documents that cannot be downloaded as files are imported through an export format Dropbox offers for them (for example .docx, PDF or Markdown).

Finding folders

Besides browsing, Dropbox supports search for files and folders across the account or inside a folder, folder contents, single-file fetch, and pasted shared links. Search matches names; whether it also matches contents depends on the customer’s Dropbox plan, so full_text is false. A shared link resolves only when the folder is already in the connected account. Otherwise you get 422 link_not_in_account: the user adds the shared folder in Dropbox, then retries.

Change detection

Dropbox has a native change feed, so incremental runs are cheap. The cursor is bound to the linked folder. When Dropbox resets the cursor, or reports a deletion or a folder-structure change, the connector lists the whole folder again so deletions are detected by stable id. Content identity is Dropbox’s content_hash. Renames and moves update metadata without re-downloading the file.

Export and two-way sync

Dropbox supports direction: "export" and direction: "both". With both, exports default to a CaseMark Output subfolder under the import root, and that subfolder is excluded from the import side so exported files are never re-imported.

`policy.collisions`	Behavior on a name collision
`version` (default)	Uploads with Dropbox’s automatic renaming, so both files are kept
`overwrite`	Replaces the existing file, keeping Dropbox’s revision history
`skip`	Leaves the existing file untouched

Each exported file carries a Case.dev property, so a retry after a lost response finds the file it already uploaded instead of uploading a duplicate. Export never deletes anything in Dropbox.

Rate budget

Dropbox allows 600 requests per minute. Because Dropbox serializes writes within an account, each connection runs one transfer at a time, and exports upload one file at a time. Imports download up to four files at once within that run.

Reconnection

Dropbox refresh tokens do not expire until the user or Dropbox revokes them, so reconnection is rare.

Capabilities at a glance


Containers	Account root (personal Dropbox or team space)
Browse depth	Container → folder
Change detection	Native delta, with a full listing after a reset
Export / paired mode	Yes
Collection	`documents`
Scope tier	`dropbox.readwrite`
Rate budget	600 requests/min, 1 concurrent run per connection

Next steps

Import & Export

Link mechanics, policies, and progress

Errors & Recovery

Reauthorization, access loss, and throttling

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Platform

Resources

Browsing

Importing a folder

Finding folders

Change detection

Export and two-way sync

Rate budget

Reconnection

Capabilities at a glance

Next steps

Import & Export

Errors & Recovery

All providers

​Browsing

​Importing a folder

​Finding folders

​Change detection

​Export and two-way sync

​Rate budget

​Reconnection

​Capabilities at a glance

​Next steps

Import & Export

Errors & Recovery

All providers

Browsing

Importing a folder

Finding folders

Change detection

Export and two-way sync

Rate budget

Reconnection

Capabilities at a glance

Next steps