Dropbox Addin
Browse and anonymize files from Dropbox (personal and Business) directly from cloak.business.
Prerequisites#
- A Dropbox account (personal or Business)
- The Dropbox addin must be configured by an administrator (Dropbox App Console app)
Setup#
- Go to App → Addins → Dropbox
- Click Activate if not already active
- Click Sign in with Dropbox
- A Dropbox login popup opens — sign in with your Dropbox account
- Grant the requested permissions
- The popup closes and you are connected
Browsing Files#
Dropbox uses a flat path-based file system. The browser starts at the root of your Dropbox. Navigate folders by clicking them, go back using breadcrumbs.
Supported file types:
| Extension | Processing |
|---|---|
| .txt .csv .json .xml .md .html | Direct text read |
| .docx | Text extraction via mammoth |
| .xlsx | All sheets and rows extracted |
| Text extracted via pdfjs | |
| .pptx | Text from all slides |
| .png .jpg .jpeg .bmp .tiff | PII detection via OCR |
Permissions#
| Scope | Reason |
|---|---|
| files.metadata.read | Browse folder listings |
| files.content.read | Download files for analysis |
| files.content.write | Upload anonymized results |
| account_info.read | Display your account name and email |
Saving Results#
Anonymized files are uploaded to the same folder as the original with _anonymized appended. For example:
- Original:
/Documents/contract.pdf - Result:
/Documents/contract_anonymized.txt
Dropbox automatically renames the file if it conflicts with an existing file (auto-rename mode).
Processing Workflow#
After browsing and selecting files, the anonymization pipeline runs as follows:
- Download — Files are downloaded from Dropbox via the content API. Image files are sent to the image redaction endpoint; all other formats are text-extracted.
- Analyze — The analyzer detects PII entities using the active preset and selected operators. Detected entities are shown per file with entity type, position, and confidence score.
- Review — Review per-entity operator assignments. Switch individual entities between Replace, Redact, Mask, Hash, or Encrypt before proceeding.
- Anonymize — Confirmed entities are anonymized. The output is a plain-text or binary file with all selected PII replaced according to the chosen operators.
- Save — The anonymized file is uploaded back to Dropbox at the same path with
_anonymizedappended to the filename. The original file is not modified.
Token consumption is charged after the Anonymize step. Analysis and review are free.
Batch Processing#
You may select multiple files from a single folder. Files are processed sequentially. Progress is shown per file. If a file fails (unsupported format, extraction error), it is skipped and processing continues with the next file. A summary at the end lists successful and failed files.
Maximum batch size depends on your plan tier. Free tier: 5 files per batch. Professional: 50 files. Enterprise: unlimited.
Re-authentication#
Dropbox long-lived refresh tokens do not expire as long as the app remains connected. The connection stays active indefinitely until you explicitly disconnect or revoke access.
Disconnecting#
Click Sign out in the Connect step. To revoke all access, visit dropbox.com/account/connected_apps and remove the cloak.business app.