Resources · Make integration

Dropbox Make integrationAutomate Dropbox with Make.

Your folders can do their own filing. The Dropbox Make integration puts 21 modules in your hands: one trigger that watches a folder, 16 actions, 4 searches. Never built anything in Make? This page goes from a blank editor to an automation that runs on its own.

Try the Dropbox integration on MakeSee the 21 modules

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What you can automate

What can the Dropbox Make integration actually do?

It hands Make the keys to your account. A scenario is the automation you build, and a module is one brick of it. Dropbox brings 21 of those bricks: one trigger that keeps an eye on a folder, 16 actions that create, move, share or delete, and 4 searches that go and find something before the rest of the scenario runs.

Three shapes come back again and again. The first starts with Watch Files: a document lands in a drop folder, and the scenario takes over from there, renaming it, filing it and telling the right person about it.

The second one shares without the email ping pong. Create a Share Link turns a finished deliverable into a public address a client opens with no account, and Update/Revoke a Share Link cuts it off when the job is over.

The third collects instead of sending. Create a File Request opens a page where somebody drops their documents for you, and List File Requests tells the scenario which of those pages are still waiting.

Make only does what Dropbox allows, and the documentation is honest about the edges. Watch Files covers up to 4000 files in the folder it monitors, and past that a new arrival can slip through. An upload stops when the account is out of storage, or when the folder you selected has been deleted since. On a Dropbox Teams plan, writing straight to the root of the account through the API is refused.

Dropbox exists in n8n too, with similar bricks and a different editor. The n8n vs Make comparison covers what separates them, and the Dropbox n8n integration page lists what the node handles. If you would rather be walked through the first builds, that is what the Make training is for.

Connect

How do you connect your Dropbox account?

  1. 01

    Add a Dropbox module, then create the connection

    You need a Dropbox account, and nothing else. Open a scenario, drop in any Dropbox module and click Create a connection. That connection is your account linked to Make: you set it up once, and every other Dropbox module reuses it afterwards.

  2. 02

    Name it, and leave the advanced part alone

    The Connection name field is optional, though a clear name helps when two accounts are in play. Advanced settings is where your own Dropbox client credentials would go, with https://www.integromat.com/oauth/cb/dropbox/ as the redirect URI. A first scenario has no use for it.

  3. 03

    Save and confirm access in the Dropbox window

    Click Save. Dropbox opens its own window, asks you to sign in and asks whether Make may reach the account. Confirm, and the fields of the module fill up with your real folders, ready to pick from a list.

First scenario

Your first scenario, step by step

GoalWhen a file lands in a Dropbox folder, Make creates a share link for it.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    From the Scenarios page, start a new scenario. The editor shows a single +, which is where the first module goes. Search for Dropbox by name, then pick Watch Files.

  2. 02

    Link your account

    The module asks for a connection before it can read anything. Click Create a connection, approve the access in the Dropbox window, and you come back to a module that knows your account.

  3. 03

    Choose the folder to watch

    Once the connection exists, Make lists your folders for you. No path to type from memory: take the one your team drops files into, /Inbox for example.

  4. 04

    Add the action that follows

    Click the + on the right of Watch Files and add Create a Share Link. Feed it the file coming out of the trigger: that item travelling from one module to the next is what Make calls a bundle.

  5. 05

    Test it with Run once

    Click Run once. Make executes the scenario a single time and shows what each module received and produced, so you can open the link yourself before anybody else does.

  6. 06

    Schedule it and switch it on

    The clock on the first module sets the Scheduling, every 15 minutes on a brand new scenario. Choose your rhythm, then flip the scenario on so it keeps working without you.

Triggers

What starts a Dropbox scenario?

1 module starts a scenario when something happens in Dropbox. A scheduled trigger is checked by Make on the scenario's schedule; an instant one is called by Dropbox as soon as it happens.

Dropbox1Watch Files

Watch Files

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers when a file is added in a folder being watched. This module retrieves the first 4000 files. If the total number exceeds 4000, newly added items may not be detected.”

Watch Files keeps an eye on one folder and hands the scenario each new file it finds there, one at a time.

How it fires
on a schedule. Make checks Dropbox at the rhythm set on the scenario, every 15 minutes on a new one, and no faster than that on the Free plan.
When to use it
a drop folder where the team leaves invoices to be processed, so each one gets renamed, filed and flagged without anyone opening it.
Watch out
the module covers up to 4000 files in that folder, and beyond that ceiling a new arrival can go unnoticed. Keep the watched folder light and move handled files out of it.
Modules

What Dropbox can do inside a scenario

Dropbox gives you 20 modules in 4 groups. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

Get Files/Folders

4 modules
Dropbox1

Search Files/Folders

Search

In Make“Searches for files and folders by name.”

Give it a name and it comes back with the files or folders that match, ready for the next module to act on.

When to use it
an email arrives with a quote reference and the scenario has to put its hands on that document before going any further.
Watch out
a search can find nothing, find one item, or find several. Decide what the scenario does in each of the three cases.
Dropbox2

Download a File

Action

In Make“Downloads a file from a specified folder.”

Pulls the content of a file into the scenario, so the module after it can carry that file somewhere else.

When to use it
a signed purchase order that has to reach the accounting tool without anyone downloading and re-uploading it by hand.
Watch out
the file travels through Make, and the Free plan stops at 5 MB per file and 512 MB of transfer.
Dropbox3

List All Files/Subfolders In a Folder

Search

In Make“Retrieves a list of files or subforders in a specified folder.”

Returns everything sitting in a folder, files and subfolders, item after item.

When to use it
a project folder that has to be gone through piece by piece before it gets archived.
Watch out
each item arrives as its own bundle, so everything placed after this module runs once per file. Each execution of one module counts as an operation on your plan.
Dropbox4

List File Revisions

Search

In Make“Retrieves a list of file revisions needed to recover previous content.”

Shows the earlier versions Dropbox kept for a file, so the scenario can choose one instead of guessing.

When to use it
a shared price sheet that somebody saved over, when you need the state it was in before the mistake.
Watch out
this one only reads. Nothing changes in Dropbox until Restore a File acts on the version you picked.

Create & Update File/Folder

10 modules
Dropbox5

Upload a File

Action

In Make“Uploads a file to a selected folder.”

Drops a file coming from elsewhere in the scenario into the Dropbox folder you point it at.

When to use it
an invoice produced by your billing tool, which belongs next to the rest of that client's paperwork.
Watch out
the upload fails when the account has no storage left, and also when the folder you selected has been deleted since. The scenario stops and you have to select the target folder again.
Dropbox6

Create a Folder

Action

In Make“Creates a new folder.”

Creates a folder wherever you tell it to, under a name built from data the scenario already carries.

When to use it
a deal marked as won, and the folder that will hold everything about that customer opens at the same moment.
Watch out
it builds the empty shell and stops there. Pair it with Upload a File or Copy a File or Folder when something has to be inside.
Dropbox7

Create/Overwrite a Text file

Action

In Make“Creates a new text file(.doc) or overwrite an existing text file(.doc) with the provided content as plain text.”

Writes plain text into a .doc file in Dropbox, either a new one or one that is already there.

When to use it
a meeting summary an AI step produced, parked where the team reads its notes.
Watch out
aiming at an existing file replaces what was inside it, so use a fresh name whenever the previous text still matters.
Dropbox10

Restore a File

Action

In Make“Restores a previous file version.”

Puts an earlier version back in place of the current one.

When to use it
straight after List File Revisions, in a scenario that repairs a document someone overwrote by accident.
Watch out
the restore replaces what is there now, so keep a copy of the version you are about to lose.
Dropbox11

Move a File/Folder

Action

In Make“Moves a file or folder to a different location in the user's Dropbox.”

Sends a file or a whole folder to another spot inside the same Dropbox account.

When to use it
the end of a processing scenario, when a handled document leaves the drop folder for the archive.
Watch out
the item is gone from its old path, so another scenario that was looking for it there comes back empty handed.
Dropbox12

Rename a File/Folder

Action

In Make“Renames a file/folder in the user's Dropbox.”

Gives a file or a folder a new name, usually one assembled from data the scenario is already holding.

When to use it
site photos that arrive with camera names and should read as the client and the batch instead.
Watch out
renaming moves nothing, so add Move a File/Folder when the item also has to change places.
Dropbox13

Delete a File/Folder

Action

In Make“Permanently removes a file/folder from the server.”

Removes a file or a folder from the account for good.

When to use it
a temporary export, wiped once it has been sent on and serves no purpose any more.
Watch out
there is no going back from inside Make, so try it with Run once on a test folder before it ever points at something real.
Dropbox14

Copy a File or Folder

Action

In Make“Copies a file or folder to a different location in the user's Dropbox. If the source path is a folder all its contents will be copied.”

Duplicates an item somewhere else and leaves the original untouched. Aim it at a folder and its whole contents travel along.

When to use it
a project template folder, copied then renamed for each new client.
Watch out
copying a big folder means copying everything underneath, which takes time and room in the account.

File Requests

5 modules
Dropbox15

Create a File Request

Action

In Make“Creates a file request.”

Opens a page where someone sends you files without owning a Dropbox account, and what they upload lands in the folder you chose.

When to use it
a new client who has to hand over identity papers and a signed mandate before the work starts.
Watch out
the page is worth nothing until the link reaches the person, so chain it with whatever sends your emails.
Dropbox16

Get a File Request

Action

In Make“Retrieves specified file request.”

Reads back one request you already have, so the scenario can see where it stands.

When to use it
a branch that checks the state of a request before a follow-up email goes out.
Watch out
it works on a request the scenario already knows about, so it belongs after Create a File Request or List File Requests.
Dropbox17

Update a File Request

Action

In Make“Updates a file request.”

Edits a request that exists instead of opening a second one.

When to use it
the client has one more document to provide, and the page already in their hands should ask for it too.
Watch out
the change lands on the link that was already sent, which is exactly the point, so make sure it is the request you meant.
Dropbox18

Delete Closed File Requests

Action

In Make“Deletes selected file requests.”

Clears out the requests that are already closed, in one pass.

When to use it
housekeeping at the end of a project, when a pile of finished requests clutters the account.
Watch out
closed is the word that counts. A request still open will not be swept away by this module.
Dropbox19

List File Requests

Search

In Make“Returns a list of file requests owned by this user.”

Brings back the file requests that belong to your account, one after another.

When to use it
a scenario that takes stock of the clients who still have not uploaded a thing, before anyone chases them by hand.
Watch out
the list stops at what this account owns, so a request a colleague created from their own Dropbox will not show up.

Other

1 module
Dropbox20

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”

Calls the Dropbox API directly, through the connection already in place, for whatever the other 20 modules leave out.

When to use it
a corner of Dropbox nobody built a module for, with the API documentation open beside the editor.
Watch out
nothing is prepared for you here, so treat it as the exit door and not as the first reflex.
Need help

Need help automating Dropbox with Make?

A person reads every message.

FAQ

The questions that come next

01Is the Dropbox Make integration free?
Yes, from the Free plan. Dropbox counts as a standard app in Make, so it is not held back for a paid tier, and the 21 modules are there from the start. What changes with the plan is the room you get. Free runs 2 active scenarios, keeps 15 minutes between two scheduled runs, cuts a run after 5 minutes and limits files to 5 MB with 512 MB of transfer. Paid plans bring the gap down to 1 minute, allow runs of 40 minutes and lift the cap on active scenarios, with usage counted in operations.
02What do you need to connect Dropbox to Make?
A Dropbox account, and the list stops there. You drop a Dropbox module into a scenario and click Create a connection. Dropbox opens its own window, you sign in and you approve the access. From that point on, every Dropbox module in every scenario reuses the same connection. The Connection name field is there to tell two accounts apart. Advanced settings exists for people who want to register their own Dropbox client credentials, with the redirect URI given earlier on this page, and a first build can leave that part closed.
03Does Watch Files react in real time?
No. Watch Files is a scheduled trigger, which means Make goes and asks Dropbox whether anything new is there, at the rhythm set on the first module of the scenario. A new scenario checks every 15 minutes, and that is also the shortest gap the Free plan allows; paid plans go down to one minute. Nothing is pushed from Dropbox to Make here, so a file dropped just after a check waits for the next one. For filing, sharing or archiving work that delay costs nothing, and Run once is always there when you want an immediate pass.
04What if a module is missing or a limit gets in the way?
Dropbox ships with Make an API Call, which reaches any point of the Dropbox API through the connection you already set up. Anything the other 20 modules do not cover is still within reach, provided you read the API documentation yourself. On limits, the answers are practical. Watch Files handles up to 4000 files in a folder, so split what it watches into smaller folders. An upload that fails usually means the account is out of storage or the target folder no longer exists. On a Teams plan, write into a real folder rather than at the root.
05Make or n8n for Dropbox?
Both cover the same ground on files, so the question is really about how you like to work. Make gives you a visual canvas where each module is a circle you drag around, and the guided editor suits someone who builds a handful of scenarios and wants them running the same day. n8n sits closer to code, with self-hosting and branching logic that appeal to teams with developers around. Look at who will maintain the automation in six months, whether the hosting has to stay with you, and how comfortable your team is reading a flow. The comparison and the node page linked above go into detail.
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