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How could I download the Dropbox files directly using curl or wget?

I prefer working on a Linux instance through an SSH session. How could I download the Dropbox files directly from the link through a terminal command?

I tried the following but it does not work:

curl https://www.dropbox.com/t/jdejjd83827HDHH?dl=1 -o test.zip -J -L -k

The link in the example above is a made-up link. But the format of the links I receive from a provider is similar.

Could someone help?

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Здравко

@flyingmonk2231 wrote:
...
On the Windows platform, when I click this link (which looks like this https://www.dropbox.com/t/<an alphanumeric string>), it takes me to a Dropbox Transfer web page in my internet browser. ...

Hi @flyingmonk2231,

The link you are looking on is a transfer link (not a shared link as far @Elixir gets confused). Shared link could be previewed or downloaded (depending on link's GET parameter). Transfer link don't have ability for GET download, unfortunately (either with or without GUI). The transfer link you have received can be only viewed (and downloaded from there, of course). Actual download link is a POST https://dl-web.dropbox.com/zip_archive_token_download (not GET). Parameter describing downloaded content (archive_token) isn't accessible in advance. Let's hope such a opportunity will be added.

Hope this adds clarity.

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Elixir

For me the following are working:

wget https://www.dropbox.com/s/ew2jket9lisdf4oor/example.zip
wget https://www.dropbox.com/s/d34o4xoo7c6bnfh3r/example.pptx

Notice that I removed the `?dl=1` part from the shared link, otherwise the filenames are appened with that.

flyingmonk2231

Thanks for your response.

I must apologize for stating "files" in my first question. The link is for a folder, and because it contains huge files, the transfer was shared through a Dropbox Transfer link.

On the Windows platform, when I click this link (which looks like this https://www.dropbox.com/t/<an alphanumeric string>), it takes me to a Dropbox Transfer web page in my internet browser. There the address bar shows a totally different address. It looks like this "https://www.dropbox.com/transfer/<an alphanumeric string>". At the center of the window, I see a box-like in the image below. After I click the download symbol (downward facing arrow with a bar below it), the download starts with a ZIP file format. If I click the copy link button in the top right corner, I get the first link back. So this is just taking me in a vicious circle. I cannot peek into the folder for downloading individual files using the wget command.

I hope this information helps me get some answers. Again, I am looking for a link for this folder that will allow me to download it to a Linux instance with no GUI support.

Elixir

You can try zipping the folder before uploading and then share the link of the zip file. When we download a folder, the dropbox server needs to do the zipping, I think there is no static link available to that zip file.

flyingmonk2231

Zipping the folder could be one solution. However, for larger files, I think Dropbox Transfer may create dynamic links all the time. So wget may not work at all.

Can someone from Dropbox help me out? How can I get this topic under their radar?

Greg-DB

Thanks for the post! Dropbox unfortunately does not offer a way to programmatically download from Transfer links like this, but I'll pass this along as a feature request. I can't promise if or when that might be implemented though.

Здравко

@flyingmonk2231 wrote:
...
On the Windows platform, when I click this link (which looks like this https://www.dropbox.com/t/<an alphanumeric string>), it takes me to a Dropbox Transfer web page in my internet browser. ...

Hi @flyingmonk2231,

Hope this adds clarity.

CaptainApp

I've noticed that there are older forum posts available online (4 years) that show a method of doing this by copying the link that the GUI brings up. It would seem Dropbox has actively worked to prevent this from being possible.

As much as this is an inconvenience to me right this second. It's easy to see how this as a feature would create use cases for transfer out of the scope of what was originally intended. As such I understand Dropbox's decision. Despite the frustration.

valosekj

Hey! Any update? Thanks!

Greg-DB

@valosekj No, I don't have an update on this.