Unable to export documents that are in the "Migrated Paper Docs" folders

ChrisFrostAtSamsara

Hello,

 

We are having trouble fetching a category of Dropbox paper docs via the API and would like to ask for help. In particular, we would like to use the Dropbox API to download/export paper docs and for the docs that are in our users' "Migrated Paper Docs" folders the API returns a LookupError("not_found") error. Does anyone see what we may be doing incorrectly or have advice on debugging further?

 

Additional context:

 

Properties of these docs:

* The docs allow anyone with a link to access them.

* The API key belongs to a user who can access these docs via the Dropbox website.

* The docs are in users' "Migrated Paper Docs" folder and (we expect) were created before Dropbox ran the internal version migration for our company (https://developers.dropbox.com/paper-migration-guide). We expect that before the migration these docs were not in folders.

* The docs have links into them from docs that are in team folders.

 

How we have tried to access the docs:

We are using the Python SDK and have tried the following APIs, but all return the above error:

* files_download_to_file

* files_export_to_file

* sharing_get_shared_link_file

* files_get_metadata

(We're aware the the API docs for /export note that that endpoint "only supports exporting files that cannot be downloaded directly and whose ExportResult.file_metadata has ExportInfo.export_as populated", which is why  we've tried the three other APIs as well. API doc: https://www.dropbox.com/developers/documentation/http/documentation#files-export.)

 

Thank you!
Chris

Greg-DB

Paper docs in the "Migrated Paper Docs" folder would be .paper files, which would need to be exported instead of downloaded, so files_export_to_file (or files_export) would be the right method to use.

 

A "not_found" Dropbox API error indicates that the API call failed because there was nothing currently found at the specified path in the connected account under the relevant root. For example, this can happen if there's a mistake or typo in the path value the app supplies, if the file/folder has been renamed, moved, or deleted from that path, if the app is not connected to the correct account for that particular path, etc.

 

When specifying the path, make sure you provide the full and accurate path for the desired file under the relevant root. For example, if you have a file named "example.paper" inside a folder named "Migrated Paper Docs", the path would be "/Migrated Paper Docs/example.paper". You can find more information on path formats here.

 

Here are several things you can check in particular to debug this:

 

• Make sure you're using a currently accurate path value: You can use /2/files/list_folder and /2/files/list_folder/continue to list the contents of a folder so you can check what the correct path values would be for items in those folder(s). To list the root, set path to the empty string "" when calling /2/files/list_folder. You can use the path_lower or id values returned for the files/folders in that folder to interact with those files/folders.

 

• Make sure you're connected to the correct account for the path value you're using: You can use /2/users/get_current_account to check which account the app is connected to.

 

• Make sure you're using app folder-relative paths, if your app is registered for the "app folder" access type: Apps with the "app folder" access type can only access the contents of the special app folder that gets automatically created for it. If your app has the "app folder" access type, then it will only be able to access files in the app folder, and the root for any path value supplied by that app will automatically be the app folder root. You can find more information on app permissions here. For example, If your app has the app folder access type and you're trying to access something you can see on the Dropbox web site at "/Apps/<app folder name>/folder/example.csv", you should only send the path value as "/folder/example.csv".

 

• Make sure you're accessing the relevant root: When using an app with the "full Dropbox" access type, API calls default to the member folder, but if you're trying to access the "team space" (only applicable to members of a team with the "team space" configuration), you'll need to configure that as the root explicitly, as covered in the Team Files Guide.