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Dropbox automation with Bizomate

Files arrive everywhere — email attachments, form uploads, invoices your own workflows make — and someone still has to put them in the right folder. Bizomate files them in Dropbox as they arrive, moves, renames and shares them, and starts a workflow when a file is added to a folder or changed. Every run leaves a record of which file went where.

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On every plan, Free included.

At a glance

Label	Value
Plans	Every plan
Connect	An access token from your own Dropbox app — signing in with Dropbox comes later
Starts runs	Every 5 minutes (15 on Free)
Kind	Connected app · Files

What can start a workflow

New file in a folder
When a file is added to a Dropbox folder

Choose the folder, Include subfolders and a Type; turn on Download it to bring the file into the run, up to 250 MB. Files already in the folder never start a run; up to 100 new files start runs in one check.

File updated
When a file already in a Dropbox folder is changed

A file saved several times between checks starts one run, with its latest version.

What a workflow can do with it

Upload a file
Puts a file from an earlier step in a Dropbox folder

If a file has that name: rename the new one, replace it with a new version, or fail the step.

Download a file
Brings a file from Dropbox, for the steps after

Find files
Searches a Dropbox folder by name, type and when files last changed

By name, type and Changed since, in the folder and its subfolders. Left empty, Folder searches all of Dropbox.

Get file details
A file's or folder's name, size, path and times, without the file

List a folder
What is in a Dropbox folder — the next steps run once for each

Create a folder
Makes a folder in Dropbox

Move a file or folder
Moves a file or folder to another Dropbox folder

Rename a file or folder
Gives a file or folder a new name in the same folder

Copy a file or folder
Copies a file or folder to another Dropbox folder

Delete a file or folder
Deletes a file or folder from Dropbox

A folder goes with everything in it. Dropbox keeps deleted files for 30, 180 or 365 days, by Dropbox plan, under Deleted files.

Create a share link
A link to a file or folder, with the choices your Dropbox plan allows

Who can open it, what they can do and when it stops working, each listing only what your Dropbox plan allows. End dates need Dropbox Professional, Essentials or a team plan.

Save a file from a URL
Has Dropbox fetch a file from a web address straight into a folder

Dropbox fetches the file straight into the folder. A large one still fetching after a minute comes back in progress; add a Wait, then Get file details.

How you connect it

In Dropbox's App Console (dropbox.com/developers/apps), select Create app, choose Scoped access, then Full Dropbox — or App folder, to keep the app to one folder of its own. On the app's Permissions tab, tick account_info.read, files.metadata.read, files.metadata.write, files.content.read, files.content.write, sharing.read and sharing.write, and select Submit — a token carries only the permissions ticked when it is made. Then, on the Settings tab, select Generate under Generated access token, and paste the token into Bizomate under Access token. Bizomate tests it before saving, and Test answers "Reached Sam Carter · Dropbox team Acme Supplies Inc." or "Reached Sam Carter · personal Dropbox".

What the token reaches: with Full Dropbox, everything that Dropbox account can see — on a team with a team space, the team's folders too; with App folder, only the app's own folder under Apps. A token generated in the App Console stops working within four hours, and the test says so; generate a new one and replace it on the connection. Signing in with Dropbox, for workflows that run every day without a new token, comes later.

The token is encrypted before it is saved, used only when a step runs, a trigger checks or a test calls Dropbox, and never shown again — not to you, your colleagues or Bizomate support. It belongs to one workspace, the Code step cannot read it, and revoking the connection wipes it at once.

In the help centre: Connect Dropbox, Upload, download or share files in Dropbox, Start a workflow when a Dropbox file is added or updated and Pass files between steps.

Questions about Dropbox

How long does the access token last?

A token generated in Dropbox's App Console stops working within four hours of being made, and Test says so when you connect. When it stops, steps fail with "expired_access_token" and the triggers show Not checking since; generate a new token and replace it on the connection. It suits building and trying workflows. Signing in with Dropbox, which keeps a connection working without a new token, comes later.

Can Bizomate see all of my Dropbox?

It sees what the token's app allows. An app made with Full Dropbox reaches everything the account can see, team folders included; an app made with App folder reaches only its own folder under Apps, and the pickers start there. To stop Bizomate reaching Dropbox, revoke the connection in Bizomate or delete the app in the App Console.

Do the triggers start a run straight away?

No. They check the folder every 5 minutes on paid plans and every 15 on Free, and each new or changed file starts one run. Files already in the folder when you publish never start a run, and a check that finds nothing costs nothing.

Can Bizomate send a file as a link instead of an attachment?

Yes. Create a share link gives back the link for the next step — an email, a Slack message or a row in a sheet — with who can open it, whether they can view or edit, and the date it stops working, where your Dropbox plan offers each.

Templates with Dropbox

OperationsFree

New Dropbox file shared in Slack

When a file lands in a Dropbox folder, the team gets a link to it in Slack.

Dropbox → Dropbox → Slack BBy Bizomate