Here is a possible issue I've noticed while experimenting with the dropbox API. The repro is something like:
1. Find a PDF in your dropbox via the web UI
2. Ue the "Edit PDF" feature, make a change to the document (e.g. delete a page, rotate, etc), then choose Save -> Replace Original
3. Download the edited file using the dropbox API
The file that you download from the dropbox API is corrupted. For example, I have a file with ID "id:VNGR990xOeAAAAAAAAACSw" that originally had two pages and I deleted the first page. When viewing with MacOS Preview app, the API downloaded version still has two pages but the first page has corrupted text; the itext library I'm using to process it refuses to open it ("Error at file pointer 82,080").
However, if I download the file through the web UI the file is fine and looks right.
I've found in the past if I use the "Edit PDF" feature again and save the file again, it is sometimes fixed when I use the download API.
cheers,
-steve