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Direct download using ?dl=1 returns html page

Hi,

I'm downloading a folder from dropbox using `curl` with the public share url, and the `dl=1` query parameter.

This used to work perfectly until this morning, when it started returning a html page instead. Is this change intentional, and if so, what would be the recommended way to directly download files then?

Thanks in advance

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Comments

Greg-DB

Thanks for the report! We'll check on this and follow up here.

bhanbuch

to add to this: the html file that is download (even with follow redirects ON with curl) will download the file if loaded into a browser...

SeppeR

Hi Greg,

Any updates on this issue? We really need this functionality.

Thanks in advance.

Greg-DB

I don't have an update on this yet. I'll follow up here once I do.

JustMe2012

Also having this issue using Python urllib.urlretrieve to download the ZIP of a shared DropBox folder with ?dl=1 appended to the end of a shared url link. This has worked for years and started failing the end of last week. Zip file downloaded contains HTML page rather than ZIP files.

Greg-DB

We've had our engineers working on this and the good news is the problem has been fixed. Please try again and you should find that this functionality works correctly.

Apologies for any inconvenience this caused.

SeppeR

Thanks! Works again!

JonnyO

Work on some links but not all

Greg-DB

@JonnyO Can you share the details for what's currently not working for you? Thanks in advance!

JonnyO

Sorry! Was forced to work around the problem that was happening to one specific file called "gdpr-logic.js". Tried recreating the link about 10 times without success.

My workaround after two hours of trying different things became:
1. Create a file (test.txt) and test dl=1 on that. Success on third attempt!
2. Copy the content of the failing js-file to test.txt. New link. Still worked.

3. Rename to test.js. Still worked.

4. Delete the failing gdpr-logic.js

5. Rename test.js to gdpr-logic.js. Still works!

Sorry! Hope my explanation can help you.

/Jonny

Greg-DB

@JonnyO Apologies, I'm afraid I don't quite follow. Is there something that still isn't working? If please let us know exactly how we can reproduce the issue so we can investigate. Thanks!

JonnyO

We can't reproduce the problem any longer. Our "workaround" from this morning above still works and if I try to create a new file and link now it works right away (haven't waited 30 minutes to see if it stops to work).
This morning we created a link for the file above. The link worked for about 30 minutes then we got noticed by a person that he couldn't get the file via the link. We tried and neither could we any longer!
That's when the workaround started... can't reproduce the problem any longer.

JonnyO

HELP!
Now I have one working link and one not working link.

Non working (gives the html downloading page): https://www.dropbox.com/s/87rw1j6ps309zms/gdpr-logic.js?dl=1
Working (direct downloading): https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl6tklzh159ca39/gdpr-logic.js?dl=1

What is going on?

/Jonny

Greg-DB

@JonnyO It looks like that first link was disabled. If you try it with dl=0, you get a 404 error page indicating the file is gone or the link was removed:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/87rw1j6ps309zms/gdpr-logic.js?dl=0

JonnyO

We had to remove the link and work around the problem (again) when we couldn't get it to work. Sorry! I'll post again if it happens and hope that it's in the afternoon when you guys are awake :-)
Yesterday I even tried to recreate a link with no success. Today if I do the same test and recreate a link to it, the link works. Very strange!
/Jonny

KariP

Hi Greg,

there is still something wrong with the direct download links. If I open Jonny's link in Chrome or Firefox, it works as expected. The file is downloaded immediately.

However, if I open the link in Safari, then a HTML page opens up and it then redirects to the download. Is there a reason why Safari behaves differently from Chrome and Firefox?

Here's the link I tried: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl6tklzh159ca39/gdpr-logic.js?dl=1

I can reproduce the same issue with other direct download links.

I'm testing with Safari Version 12.0.1 on Mac 10.14.1 Mojave.

PS. sorry if we are not supposed to hijack old threads..

Greg-DB

@KariP This difference is expected. Note that per the help article for this:

"The links may also redirect to *.dropbox.com/s/dl "

This is because different browsers have different support for some security features we use, so sometimes we need to fall back to that behavior instead.

jose2020

Hello, I'm having problems with downloads, the links are redirecting to the dropbox home page.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kpj75omnjsruyd/BANDA%20AR-15%20-%20TREME%20TERRA%20TUPINAMB%C3%81.mp3?dl=1

Wikt0r

I can confirm. The dl parameter does not work. My example: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ow6ixn7ejqfambw/AACmMH1QK3Wiz5FcbXpi79Tra/Készletlista?dl=1

This redirects me to: https://www.dropbox.com/h

Greg-DB

@jose2020 @Wikt0r Thanks for the reports! We're looking into it.

Здравко

Hi all,

Anyone, who want direct access to the corresponding file, can replace ending 'dl=0' or 'dl=1' using 'raw=1'.

Hope this helps.

Greg-DB

@jose2020 @Wikt0r This should be fixed now. Please let us know if you're still seeing any issues.

jose2020

Problem solved. Thank you!