How to upload complete folder to Dropbox using python

Question

I am trying to upload a whole folder to Dropbox at once but I can't seem to get it done is it possible? And even when I am trying to upload a single file I have to precise the file extension in the Dropbox path, is there another way to do it? code I am using

client = dropbox.client.DropboxClient(access_token)
f= open(file_path)
response = client.put_file('/pass',f )

but it's not working

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Answer 1

The Dropbox SDK doesn't automatically find all the local files for you, so you'll need to enumerate them yourself and upload each one at a time. os.walk is a convenient way to do that in Python.

Below is working code with some explanation in the comments. Usage is like this: python upload_dir.py abc123xyz /local/folder/to/upload /path/in/Dropbox:

import os
import sys

from dropbox.client import DropboxClient

# get an access token, local (from) directory, and Dropbox (to) directory
# from the command-line
access_token, local_directory, dropbox_destination = sys.argv[1:4]

client = DropboxClient(access_token)

# enumerate local files recursively
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(local_directory):

    for filename in files:

        # construct the full local path
        local_path = os.path.join(root, filename)

        # construct the full Dropbox path
        relative_path = os.path.relpath(local_path, local_directory)
        dropbox_path = os.path.join(dropbox_destination, relative_path)

        # upload the file
        with open(local_path, 'rb') as f:
            client.put_file(dropbox_path, f)

EDIT: Note that this code doesn't create empty directories. It will copy all the files to the right location in Dropbox, but if there are empty directories, those won't be created. If you want the empty directories, consider using client.file_create_folder (using each of the directories in dirs in the loop).

Olivarez

Answer 2

For me there was a better way since dropbox is installing a folder on local machine you can use it and write with python to that folder the same way you would to any folder:

1. install dropbox app (and folder) on your local machine or server

2. write the files and folder you want same way as you would before to the dropbox folder directory

3. let dropbox do the synching automatically (do nothing)

dropbox is generally installing a "share" drive on local. When you upload on remote there is a lot of synching overhead that is going to make all the process slower. I chose to let dropbox do the synching in the background it made more sense for the problem i was facing and my guess is it is the right solution for most problem. Remember that the dropbox is not a remote database it is a local folder that is mirrored everywhere.

i didn't really measure but on local it took me about 10 second the other way took around 22 minutes so all in all it was about X 130 times faster than writing to local folder and let dropbox doing the synch than writing to the dropbox by using the other method people seem to recommend for unknown reason

Roderic