NOTE: Certain information in this article may be missing or out of date. We are in the process of updating the content.
Overview
Dropbox is the secure file sharing and storage solution that employees love and IT admins trust. Here are some things you can expect from the Dropbox/Grow integration.
How to Connect
Before starting, please collect your Dropbox username (email address) and password.
- Click on the Data tab at the top left of the global navigation. Then click on "Connections" in the Data Library section.
- Click on the blue "Connect" button, search for Dropbox, and click on the logo.
- All you'll need to connect is your Dropbox username (email address) and password.
- Once you've filled out those two fields, just click Authorize.
And that's it! You are good to go.
Endpoints
The Dropbox integration is unlike most other integrations in that there aren't any specific endpoints to choose from after you connect your account. You'll simply choose the Dropbox files that you want to use to create your metrics, and Grow will pull data directly from the source.
Many Grow users store exported .csv files in their synced Dropbox folders from platforms that may not yet have an integration with Grow. This means you don't have to worry about excluding any of your important data from Grow metrics. Whenever the Dropbox files behind your metrics are updated, Grow will update your metrics to reflect the change.
FAQs + Tips and Tricks
Dropbox Business Accounts
Grow can now access files in a team folder in a Dropbox Business account.
When you connect Grow to a Dropbox Business Account you may get a note saying the app can consume your upload API quota. Grow does not use any upload API calls. Grow will not affect, nor be affected by any upload API limit Dropbox imposes.
Syncing Files
Make sure that the files you want to use in your Grow metrics are synced folders in Dropbox. If they aren't, your metrics won't automatically reflect changes made to the Dropbox file. If they are not syncing check the following:
- Is your Dropbox folder syncing with your Dropbox online account? Dropbox has selective syncing meaning you can select specific folders that will sync or not. Make sure the file and folder that you are editing is actually syncing with your Dropbox online. Dropbox has a good article about selective sync here.
- Is your Dropbox account connected to Grow? Sometimes Dropbox and Grow will stop talking to each other. Click on the Report which contains your Dropbox data and then click the Data Settings tab and make sure your account is connected.
Delays in Displaying Newly Created Folders/Files
You may experience delays after creating a file or folder in Dropbox versus when it becomes available in the API. Dropbox has confirmed that some delay is expected. Per their documentation: "The amount of delay depends on a number of different factors and can vary from account to account, and over time. That being the case, you will see varying amounts of delay like this."
One Sheet per Report
For Excel-based files, you can select 1 sheet at a time. So if you have an Excel doc with multiple sheets, you need to create a report for each sheet.
Uniquely Named Headers
If there isn’t a unique column header in your chart, you will have difficulty using Grow’s transform tools as we wont know which columns to filter, group, pivot, etc.
Supported File Formats
XLS, XLSX, XLSM, and CSV. If you're looking to use JSON or XML files, Grow can pull those in, but we suggest converting to a CSV first.