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Problem with list_revisions and revision download of very old files

I have an old file that is over a year old.
When I call list_revisions on this file, all the history is displayed.
All revisions have is_downloadable set to true.
However, when I actually download the revision, it returns an error saying not found.
When I call restore, it returns an invalid_revision error.

When I look at the history on the web page, only the current revision is displayed, and past revisions are not displayed.

I can't find the difference in information between the old file and the new file's revision list on the API.
Is it possible to filter out revisions that cannot be downloaded or rolled back from the old file's revision list?

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DB-Des

Hi @오부경,

I'll be happy to help with any issues you're having with the Dropbox API, but I'll need some more information. Please reply with:

the name and version number of the platform and SDK/library you are using, if any
relevant code snippet(s), but don't include any access or refresh token(s)
the full text of any error or unexpected output
5-10 different 'X-Dropbox-Request-Id' response header values encountering the issue

오부경

I am using REAT API method using Rebex HTTP product without SDK.

Below is part of packet capture using Fiddler.
Please refer to it.

List Revisions

POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_revisions HTTP/1.1
Host: api.dropboxapi.com
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 62
User-Agent: <myagent>
Connection: keep-alive

{"path":"id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw","mode":"path","limit":100}

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
X-Server-Response-Time: 118
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:40:45 GMT
Server: envoy
Content-Length: 2811
Vary: Accept-Encoding
X-Dropbox-Response-Origin: far_remote
X-Dropbox-Request-Id: ce74745399564b4d91edd0de4fc171d7

{"is_deleted": false, "entries": 
[
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", 
"client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:44:16Z", 
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:49:25Z", 
"rev": "60e514a7f46482112719d", "size": 13, 
"is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
},
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", "client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:44:22Z", 
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:43:48Z", 
"rev": "60e51366ff7b62112719d", 
"size": 32, 
"is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
},
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", 
"client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:44:19Z", 
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:43:45Z", 
"rev": "60e51363beb102112719d", 
"size": 22, 
"is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
},
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt",
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", 
"client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:44:16Z",
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:43:42Z", 
"rev": "60e51360b149e2112719d", 
"size": 13, 
"is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
},
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", "client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:44:11Z", 
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:43:37Z", 
"rev": "60e5135ca17b62112719d", 
"size": 5, "is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
},
{
"name": "\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_lower": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"path_display": "/a7/\uc0c8 \ud14d\uc2a4\ud2b8 \ubb38\uc11c.txt", 
"id": "id:77F-LgoKhIQAAAAAAAAZlw", 
"client_modified": "2024-01-07T01:41:30Z", 
"server_modified": "2024-01-07T01:41:30Z", 
"rev": "60e512e35dae52112719d", 
"size": 0, 
"is_downloadable": true, 
"content_hash": "..."
}
], "has_more": false}

Download Revision

GET https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/download HTTP/1.1
Host: content.dropboxapi.com
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Dropbox-API-Arg: {"path":"rev:60e51360b149e2112719d"}
User-Agent: <myagent>
Connection: keep-alive

HTTP/1.1 409 Conflict
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=unspecified
Content-Security-Policy: sandbox
Content-Security-Policy: sandbox allow-forms allow-scripts
Vary: Dropbox-API-Arg, Authorization
X-Content-Security-Policy: sandbox
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Webkit-Csp: sandbox
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:40:52 GMT
Server: envoy
Content-Length: 95
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow, noimageindex
X-Dropbox-Response-Origin: far_remote
X-Dropbox-Request-Id: e633795cd924465ba3021b960705bed5

{"error_summary": "path/not_found/.", "error": {".tag": "path", "path": {".tag": "not_found"}}}

DB-Des

Hi @오부경,

Thanks for that additional information! We're investigating this API issue. We'll follow up here once we have an update.

DB-Des

Hi @오부경

Thanks again for your patience while we looked into the issue you reported. Here's what we found:

Regarding the "is_downloadable" field returned by the /2/files/list_revisions endpoint:
This field indicates whether the file can be downloaded directly (i.e., via /2/files/download), or if it needs to be exported (via /2/files/export) due to its file type. While the field name might suggest something about the availability of the file data, it’s actually not related to whether the file is still accessible.
Looking at the revision metadata you provided, we see that the server_modified timestamp for the file revision in question is "2024-01-07T01:43:42Z". As you noted, that’s over a year ago, and given that you're on a Basic account, that revision is likely no longer available based on your account’s version history retention limits. Feel free to review this article for more details: https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/version-history-overview#How-much-version-history-can-I-access.

That said, I'll pass this along as a feature request (specifically, the ability to distinguish between deleted file revisions that are still recoverable and those that are no longer available). I can't promise if or when that might be implemented though.