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Question

Resolving .txt file upload issue instead of .wav/.mp3 files when downloading from Dropbox link

pmiddleton

Hi,


I work for a music producer and I sort through the loops/samples they get sent in their gmail inbox.

 

I want to make a Zap which

  1. detects a new email with a dropbox link in it
  2. Downloads audio from link (usually a folder containing audio)
  3. Uploads audio to a specified folder (folder name from dropbox should be folder name in specified folder)

I currently have step 1 and 3 working but every time it uploads a .txt file. Majority of files are .wav or .mp3.


Im using a domain name gmail so I have no restrictions

7 replies

SamB
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Welcome to the Community, @pmiddleton!

Hmm, are the dropbox links publicly-accessible download link - meaning no login is required in order to download them?

If so, I’d have thought you could use a Formatter (Text > Extract URL) action to extract the link from the email. Then select the link that is extracted by Formatter in the Upload File action. 

That said, if there’s sometimes more than one dropbox link in the email then you may be better off using a Formatter (Text > Extract Pattern) action to extract the multiple dropbox links.


Hope that helps. If you give that a go and run into any trouble let us know. Happy to help further! 🙂

pmiddleton

Hey @SamB,

thanks for the response! The links are available without a login. 
 

if I used a text extractor would it be able to download the audio files or folders to orb audio files in them?

 

 

Danvers
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @pmiddleton!

Sam’s suggested a great way to get the urls, but I’m wondering if the issue is with the url itself. 

When you copy a link to share a file in Dropbox, the link will take you to view the file in dropbox, not download the file. For example this link takes you to view a ‘dramatic chipmunk.mp4 file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtnigny65o3jk12/Dramatic%20Chipmunk.mp4%20%281%29.mp4?dl=0

The link you need to download the file, you need to change the last character on the link, so it says dl=1 instead of dl=0 eg

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtnigny65o3jk12/Dramatic%20Chipmunk.mp4%20%281%29.mp4?dl=1
 

WARNING Clicking this above link will download a dramatic chipmunk video to your computer. It’s a harmless file, but it is very silly. 

 

If you use the download link, not the view link, you should be able to upload the file to any app/folder that allows you to upload files using a link. 

 

If the links in the emails that you have end in dl=0, you’ll need to use Formatter by Zapier and choose the Replace function (under text). When you set up that step, make sure to include the ‘dl=’ piece of the text and not to replace every 0 with a 1.  

 

 

I hope that helps, let us know how you get on!

pmiddleton

hey @Danvers,

 

Thanks for the answer! I have done this now but it seems to still be uploading a text file, inside the text file it has the dropbox link with the changed formatting. 

 

It’s outputting the dropbox link with the changed URL

 

But when I send the file to dropbox its taking the output text and uploading it as a text file. How do I get zapier to download it using that link?

 


Thanks for your help,

Patrick

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi there @pmiddleton,

I’m jumping in to see if I can help!

By any chance, do you have a data mapped in the “Specify File Name” field? If so, could you please try removing that mapped data and test the Dropbox step again.

Please keep us posted! 😊

pmiddleton

Hi there @pmiddleton,

I’m jumping in to see if I can help!

By any chance, do you have a data mapped in the “Specify File Name” field? If so, could you please try removing that mapped data and test the Dropbox step again.

Please keep us posted! 😊

Hey @ken.a,

 

Thanks for jumping in. Unfortuently that didnt work either. Still struggling to find why or how to stop it converting it to txt.

 

Is there a specific way to download the dropbox file in another way?

nicksimard
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi @pmiddleton!

I just tested this with and without adding a specific file extension in the Zap, and in both cases it uploaded the file correctly to Dropbox. So, even doing this without specifying the .mp4 extension, it worked for me:

In Zapier

 In Dropbox

 

You’re trying this exact same process and it’s not working for you?

Reply


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