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Forum Discussion
Error when attempting to get an access token using refresh token
I keep encountering the same error when I attempt to use my refresh token, client id and client secret to get a new access token in my javascript code:
" Error in call to API function "files/upload": Invalid authorization value in HTTP header "Authorization": "Bearer". Expecting "Bearer <oauth2-access-token>".
I've tried many times but I keep coming back to the same error, whether I use a fetch method, post, or get. I know my information is correct, because a curl request gives me a working access token, but I seem to be messing something up. I've read through all the resources I can find, but I think I must be making a mistake when applying this code.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I am very new to javascript and the removal of long-lived access tokens has thrown me for a loop!
(The images below are all different attempts, each of which failed with the same error.)
- Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff
It looks like you're attempting to use a refresh token as a "Bearer" token in a few places in this case (where you set the "Authorization" header to "Bearer" + refreshToken). Refresh tokens themselves are not access tokens and cannot be used as Bearer tokens though, so please update your code to remove that. Refresh tokens should only be used as the "refresh_token" parameter value (as you do have) when calling /oauth2/token.
Also, I see in one line that you have a reference to "api.dropboxapi.com/oauth2/token_access_type=offline". That is not correct, and appears to be a combination of "api.dropboxapi.com/oauth2/token", which is the Dropbox OAuth 2 token endpoint, and "token_access_type=offline" which is only a parameter/option on www.dropbox.com/oauth2/authorize. You can find more information in the OAuth Guide and authorization documentation.
This comment with a basic example of the whole procedure may be a useful reference.
Hi Greg,
Thank you so much for your reply!
Do you have any basic examples of doing this through javascript? I've been able to get the refresh token using curl, but I haven't had the same luck with my code. I've looked at the documentation on the OAuth guide and authorization documentation but I can't get the Javascript to function.
Thank you!
Hi GIS_questions,
Take a look on https://github.com/dropbox/dropbox-sdk-js/tree/main/examples/javascript 😉
Hope this helps.
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