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Where does Dropbox for Android saves files when you click on "Download"?

I've read How to search for files and folders?

But my /sdcard/dropbox is empty even if I've downloaded a file just now.

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9 Answers 9

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Dropbox 3.0 (3.0.3.2) and Sony Xperia T3:

/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files

As of Dropbox 2.0 the right location by default is

/mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch/[files]

Found the things with Astro file manager (Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9).

Moto G4 [Aaron]

On a new Moto G4 the Dropbox app has no "star" mechanism, instead you enable the "allow offline access" option, and the actual location this file showed up was

/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/[userhash]/scratch/[‌​file]
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    Not really wrong, actually -- before Dropbox 2.0 this was indeed the place to find favourite/offline files, and they changed it to the obscure directory you have posted for some reason that eludes me.
    – Martin Tapankov
    Feb 13, 2012 at 17:49
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    i use 2.0.1 this answer is correct. the location is not in "/mnt/sdcard/download" anymore
    – kirill_igum
    Feb 13, 2012 at 18:04
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    It would likely be a change in the Android API rules that has dictated this new location.
    – staticsan
    Feb 14, 2012 at 0:11
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    Remember that for newer Dropbox apps (mone is 2.4.7.14) you have to favorite the files first for them to be downloaded and available.
    – Spiralis
    Jan 2, 2015 at 18:07
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    In Dropbox 3.0.3.2: /Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files (Sony Xperia T3)
    – Sadi
    Oct 12, 2015 at 13:48
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For now in the Dropbox App there is no download option, but there is favorite option (star).

When you favorite something, it downloads this for offline use in sdcard/android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch

You can do it only for files, not whole folders.

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5

Dropbox on my Samsung Note 3 has its storage at /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/.

HTH

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The default location where Dropbox will place downloaded files is /mnt/sdcard/download on my OG Droid. I can't imagine it changes much between phone models.

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  • Does not seem to be anymore, since at least does not do it very fast. Waiting now 5 minutes that the files would come to the folder in my Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Feb 13, 2012 at 17:15
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As of Dropbox for Andrioid 218.2.2 (and probably earlier) offline files/folders are no longer saved in in a directory that is directly accessible to the user or to other apps. The only way to access them is through the Dropbox app.

I'm running Android 10 on a Pixel 1. /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/ used to work but it doesn't work anymore.

Previously I was using this to download audiobooks (stored in Dropbox) to my phone. Now that Dropbox no longer supports this, Dropsync seems to work; I recommend trying it if you have a similar use case.

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  • Thanks, good to know - I was close to think that dropbox is a nice software.
    – peterh
    Jan 9, 2021 at 21:08
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As of September 2019, Dropbox for Android 156.2.2 the following applies on my Huawei Nova 3i phone.

* This applies to files where "Make available offline" has been selected * If the file hasn't been made available offline I don't believe there is a persistent copy of it on the device, and the file contents are probably streamed when the file is accessed.

If the file is located at 

<Dropbox>\Some folder\Somefile.txt

then when Make available offline is checked, a persistent copy of the file is placed at:

Main storage/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/u123456/scratch/Some folder/Somefile.txt

For other devices Main storage will be different. u123456 (obfuscated) probably identifies the Dropbox account.

A quick test seems to indicate that there is no connection in the opposite direction -i.e. I created a folder and file using an android file manager at:

Main storage/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/u123456/scratch/test/temp.txt

but the file/folder doesn't appear in the dropbox image.

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The Astro file manager can connect to your Dropbox easily so that you can access your Dropbox similar to a usual folder.

You can also use it to download a whole folder (or more precisely copy a folder in your Dropbox into your SD card). Downloading is pretty slow though.

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/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/ in LG G3 beat running Android 4.4.2.

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    This answer actually said almost the same thing. Your answer fits as a comment to it.
    – Firelord ♦
    Oct 4, 2015 at 11:40
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If you want to download the file to the "Downloads" folder in the normal way then click the "..." under the file and select "Save" option.

enter image description here

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