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1. Overview

The Ana x Dropbox integration connects your Dropbox account or team to Ana, giving you natural language access to your files. Once configured, Ana can list folders, search by name, read document content, and report on sharing activity without leaving your workflow.
Connect Dropbox to Ana to search, read, and analyze the files and folders you have access to using natural language.

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2. Prerequisites

You’ll need:
  • A Dropbox account (personal or Dropbox Business) with the files you want Ana to query
  • Access to the Dropbox App Console to create an app
  • A TextQL account with permission to add API connectors

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Which type of connection should I use?

Dropbox no longer issues long-lived access tokens. A token generated in the App Console stops working after 4 hours. Use OAuth for anything beyond a quick test: TextQL stores the refresh token and renews access automatically.

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3. Capabilities

Once configured, Ana can:
  • List and search files and folders across your account or team space.
  • Read the content of documents, spreadsheets, and text files.
  • Report on file metadata such as size, owner, and last modified date.
  • Surface shared links and shared folder membership.

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4. Setup Instructions

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Step 1: Create a Dropbox app

Both connection types use a Dropbox app. The app defines which permissions (scopes) Ana can use.
  1. Go to the Dropbox App Console and click Create app.
  2. Choose Scoped access.
  3. Choose the access type: Full Dropbox to let Ana read your existing files, or App folder to restrict it to one new folder.
  4. Name the app (for example textql-ana) and click Create app.
  5. Open the Permissions tab and enable at least:
    • account_info.read
    • files.metadata.read
    • files.content.read
    • sharing.read
  6. If a Submit button appears at the bottom of the Permissions tab, click it.
Do this before you generate a token or authorize. Dropbox stamps each access token with the permissions the app had at that moment. A permission you enable later is not added to existing tokens. After any change on the Permissions tab, generate a new access token, or remove and re-authorize the OAuth connection.
  1. On the app’s Settings tab, scroll to OAuth 2 and click Generate under Generated access token.
  2. Copy the token immediately. It expires 4 hours after it is generated.
  3. Generate a new token any time you change the app’s permissions. The old token keeps the old permissions.
For the latest steps, see Dropbox’s OAuth guide.

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Step 2: Add Dropbox as an API connector in TextQL

  1. Go to app.textql.com and sign in.
  2. In the bottom left sidebar, click Connectors > APIs and select Dropbox.
  3. In the configuration panel, fill in the fields depending on your connection type:
    • Access Token
      • Name (e.g. Dropbox Access Token)
      • Authentication type: select API Key
      • Token: paste the generated access token from Step 1
    • OAuth (Org-level or Per-member)
      • Name (e.g. Dropbox OAuth)
      • Authentication type: select OAuth (org-level) or OAuth (per-member)
      • Client ID and Client Secret: paste the App key and App secret from Step 1
      • Scopes: leave the defaults unless you enabled additional permissions on the app
      • OAuth Authentication: click Authenticate. A popup asks for permission to access your Dropbox. Click Allow.
  4. Click Save.

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Step 3: Verify the connection

Once saved, confirm the connector is active:
  1. Click on the Dropbox connector and select Test Connection at the bottom of the panel.
  • A successful setup will return Connection successful (200) with your account details.
  • If the test fails, refer to the Troubleshooting section for next steps.
  1. Ask Ana to list a folder, for example “What is in the root of my Dropbox?”
  • The test only checks that the token is valid. It passes with account_info.read alone, so it cannot tell you whether the file permissions are on the token. Listing a folder does.

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5. Usage Examples

Once configured, you can ask Ana:
  • “List everything in the Board Decks folder, newest first.”
  • “Find every spreadsheet modified in the last 7 days and summarize what changed.”
  • “Read the Q3 planning doc in Finance/2026 and pull out the headcount assumptions.”
  • “Which folders are shared outside the team, and with whom?”
  • “How much storage is each top-level folder using?“

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6. Troubleshooting

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7. Security Notes

  • Follow the principle of least privilege. Enable only the read permissions Ana needs, and prefer App folder access when Ana only needs a subset of your files.
  • OAuth refresh tokens remain valid until the user revokes the app under Dropbox Settings > Connected apps. Revoke it there if you suspect exposure.
  • Do not share access tokens, app secrets, or OAuth credentials in email, chat, tickets, or other unsecured locations.
  • If you no longer need the integration, revoke the app in Dropbox and remove the connector from TextQL.
  • For more details on how Dropbox handles authentication and permissions, refer to Dropbox’s HTTP API documentation.

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Need Help?

For further assistance, please contact support@textql.com.

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