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Automatically Deleting Files After X Days - General Data Protection Regulation May 2018

Hi there,

I'm using the Java SDK 3x (API v2) and I'm looking for pointers/code to automatically delete files that are X number of days old. There is post on this forum which is doing this in python however not seen anything for Java. I can't use any third party tools due to the context of my client's application.

With the European GDPR I feel this feature should be in built into the uploading process, that is defining a 'retention schedule' for all the files. If this feature is going to be implemented will it be in time for when the Eurpoean GDPR is active in May 2018?

Best regards and thanks for any assistance

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outsidecoder

Things are not looking good for business users in Europe. We should be able tell when a folder was modified* for GDPR.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/API-support/Get-the-modified-date-for-a-folder-or-file/m-p/184489/highlight/true#M7748

*Ideally it should be the creation date, however that is probably a grey area for lawyers to argue over.

outsidecoder

So created a quick bit of code to delete files older than X days but its very rough and hasn't been tested properly. It doesn't get round the issue of dates of folders, nor does it get round the issue of not knowing the creation date. Comments welcomed as there must be a better way than this?

   enum MODIFIED_DATE_TYPE {
        SERVER_MODIFIED_DATE, CLIENT_MODIFIED_DATE;
    }

    private long deleteFilesOlderThanXDays(long numDays, MODIFIED_DATE_TYPE TYPE) throws DbxException {
        //ALPHA - add protection against going above long.MAXIMUM
        long numberFilesDeleted = 0;
        ListFolderBuilder listFolderBuilder = client.files().listFolderBuilder("");
        ListFolderResult result = listFolderBuilder.withRecursive(true).start();

        while (!result.getHasMore()) {
            if (result != null) {
                for (Metadata entry : result.getEntries()) {
//                    System.out.println("Analysing: " + entry.getPathLower());
                    if (entry instanceof FileMetadata) {
                        Date dateOfFile;
                        switch (TYPE) {
                            case CLIENT_MODIFIED_DATE:
                                dateOfFile = ((FileMetadata) entry).getServerModified();
                                break;

                            case SERVER_MODIFIED_DATE:
                                dateOfFile = ((FileMetadata) entry).getClientModified();
                                break;
                            default:
                                throw new AssertionError();
                        }
                        //Check to see if the current file is too old
                        if (getDaysBetween(new Date(), dateOfFile) > numDays) {
                            this.deleteFile(entry.getPathLower());
                            numberFilesDeleted++;
                        }
                    }
                }
                if (!result.getHasMore()) {
                    return numberFilesDeleted;
                }
                try {
                    result = client.files().listFolderContinue(result.getCursor());
                } catch (DbxException e) {
                    //ALPHA - TIDY UP HERE.  CATCHING or THROWING??? - GDPR - Note what you're logging
                    //  log.info("Could NOT get listFolderContinue");
                }
            }
        }
        return numberFilesDeleted;
    }

Greg-DB

Thanks for the post! Dropbox doesn't offer a way to do this automatically via the API. I'm sending this along as feature requests for created and modified times for folders, as well as a native way to have Dropbox automatically delete files after a certain amount of time. I can't promise if/when these would be implemented though.

LukFromTheSky

Hello Greg,

Was there any progress on that?

Thanks,

Luk

Greg-DB

@LukFromTheSky No, unfortunately I don't have an update on either of these feature requests.

TateFF

I'm a little shocked there isn't a way to do this. Has there been any progress on implementing this functionality?

Greg-DB

@TateFF No, unfortunately I don't have any news on this request.

mpk2

Is there a reason this feature isn't being built?

Greg-DB

@mpk2 I can't speak to why Dropbox may have decided to work on any particular feature request or not. This feature request is still open and I'll follow up here with any updates if/when I have anything to share. I don't have any news on this right now though.

ABC15

This would be a very helpful feature for companies like mine as we are dealing with 1000s of clinet's files and we only need them for 3 months. After 3 months they can be deleted from Dropbox automaticly instead we go through all files. It would be nice to have an option for not deleted from local computer.

Greg-DB

Thanks for the additional feedback!

qopera

I've been looking for a way to automate deleting files from Dropbox for my company usage, and I recall reading this post late last year. Interestingly, in Feb, I found a site that support auto-deletion for files on Dropbox - it's called Fileql. I set up my personal Dropbox just to test this out and I'm still in my free trial period, but so far it seems to work as expected. You'll create a rule and schedule how often it should run and define the terms for the rule. Hopefully, this works for someone else.

Unfortunately, I'm not a developer so don't know how to hack these things so I'm sticking to these guys if all goes well.

Joachim_H

Is there any chance that this feature will finally be introduced?
Since 2018 this requirement exists in this thread
My company is in dire need of this feature.
We will have to look for another cloud provider otherwise

Greg-DB

@Joachim_H While this isn't available/configurable via the Dropbox API as originally requested in this thread, the Dropbox product does offer a retention policy feature that may be helpful.

tuancrab

It is super easy to have a Google script code with Chatgpt to delete specific filetypes, after x days ... and other filtering conditions as you like: notification to email after completion, trigger runs everyday, week or more when you use Google Drive. I'm still not sure how to do that with Dropbox.

Greg-DB

@tuancrab Thanks for the feedback. Dropbox doesn't offer a feature exactly like this, but I've sent this along as a feature request.