Error saving/uploading dropbox document to Airtable

[DTL]

I’ve created a scenario in Integromat that watches for files to be added to a specific folder. The idea is that when a file is added, it will trigger the scenario which will add the file to a Table in airtable. Dropbox recognizes the file, it then downloads the file from dropbox. But when it goes to create the record in airtable, it comes back with an error.

Here are some screenshots of the progression:

This shows that data is coming through the dropbox scenario.

However, this is what it looks like when I try to configure the airtable operation to add the file as an attachment.

This shows that when the scenario is run, the dropbox listener and the dropbox file download work.

But there’s an error with the URL.

[Bill_French]

DTL:

But there’s an error with the URL.

Let’s start with the basics - is the DropBox URL publicly accessible?

[DTL]

I can’t say for certain. I’m not sure how I would determine that. But I assume no.

[kuovonne]

Airable can only make attachments from publically accessible urls (unless using the native Airtable user interface). Those urls also must be the url for the actual document–not a url that displays a webpage that contains the document.

The easiest way to test your url is to copy and paste it into a web browser where you are not logged into DropBox. If you are presented with a login screen, then the document is not publically accessible. If you are presented with “viewer” for the document, and not the document itself, the url will also not work for creating an attachlment.

[Bill_French]

DTL:

I can’t say for certain. I’m not sure how I would determine that. But I assume no.

Okay - well - my hunch is the URLs you are handing to Airtable (via Integromat) are private and Airtable has no security context with which to access the URLs.

One way to test this is to select a few of the dropbox files and set them to openly accessible to the public Internet and test the process again.

[DTL]

I just tested with a public dropbox file. That kind of seems to have fixed it except that the file that is uploaded in airtable is apparently a one-page blank document which is not actually what the file is. Here’s the error when I actually download the file from Airtable.

[ScottWorld]

I would reach out to Integromat’s excellent technical support and ask them if they know of a way to extract the actual URL of the actual document in Dropbox.

As the others have said above, even if your Dropbox URL is publicly accessible, Dropbox then wraps your document in a webpage (i.e. the webpage has the document embedded within it).

But what you’re looking for is the actual URL of the underlying document, and I’m not sure if Dropbox reveals that URL via their API, which is what Integromat taps into.

But please let us know what Integromat Support has to say about this issue, so we can help other people in the future on this exact same issue! :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks!

[ScottWorld]

I should also note that @Moe has created the tool below to upload Dropbox documents to Airtable, but I’m still really curious if Integromat has a solution for this as well. Please report back! :slightly_smiling_face:

miniExtensions

Convert URLs to Attachments in Bulk on Airtable - miniExtensions

A tool to convert URLs to Airtable attachments in bulk with a single click. File format can be images, PDFs, etc. Supports scheduling & webhooks.

[Bill_French]

DTL:

except that the file that is uploaded in airtable is apparently a one-page blank document which is not actually what the file is.

This is likely caused because of what @kuovonne warned you about above.

kuovonne:

If you are presented with “viewer” for the document, and not the document itself, the url will also not work for creating an attachment.

It appears that what you are providing Airtable with is a URL to the DropBox PDF viewer - that won’t work. It must be the actual document.

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

I would reach out to Integromat’s excellent technical support and ask them if they know of a way to extract the actual URL of the actual document in Dropbox.

This is very easy to do. Before you spend a lot of time explaining your issue to people who probably don’t care much about DropBox or even know how it actually works, I would try to validate that your process fails when you …

1. Make sure you test with a direct document URL, and;
2. The document is openly public (i.e., reachable and viewable from a browser without your DropBox security context).