Key Command/Shortcut to "Copy Dropbox Link" from Mac Finder.

[Justin P.2]

I copy download links all day from the Mac Finder. It would be great to assign a key command so that you can highlight a file in your Dropbox via Mac Finder, and press a key command to copy the link instead of right clicking.

[Gene_Parmesan · Accepted solution]

Update (2023-01-17)

I've moved the script to a repository and expanded on the instructions.

I wanted this now, so I wrote a Python script to get the URL from the command line and created an Automator QuickAction that calls the script with the selected file(s) in Finder:

Now, ^⌘L copies the Dropbox URL of any number of files selected in the Dropbox folder.

[Powlow]

Keyboard shortcuts and touchbar integration would really be a big improvement

[DavidW2]

@Gene_Parmesan thanks for creating that script - I did all the steps but it results in error when I run it - any thoughts or can you help!? 

[Gene_Parmesan]

Possibly, but I'd need to see the error.

[dhermanq]

@Gene_Parmesan I've been searching all over for something like this -- thank you!! I've followed all the steps in your screenshots and GitHub, but I'm getting the following error when I run the Quick Action: "ERROR: file isn't in the Dropbox folder". I see where this error is returned in your code, but I'm not fluent enough to understand what causes it. Any thoughts?

[DavidW2]

@Gene_Parmesan perhaps you could give us non-coders a step-by-step how to implement your solution? 

[Gene_Parmesan]

My guess is that your Dropbox folder is not at ~/Dropbox. I've changed the script to fetch the path of the Dropbox folder in your home directory from ~/.dropbox/info.json. However, there can be two paths there: one for personal Dropbox accounts and one for business accounts. The script only looks for personal accounts, but you can change that to 'business' on line 42 if necessary. (See more about info.json.) You need to use the account which the TOKEN is attached to.

I've also added a more descriptive error message when the path calculation fails. Hopefully that will give you enough clues as to what has gone wrong. Let me know if it works now!

[dhermanq]

@Gene_Parmesan I use a Dropbox business account, and changing 'personal' to 'business' on line 42 did the trick! I've been dreaming of this functionality for a long time -- thank you!!!

[Gene_Parmesan]

Great to hear! I've tweaked the script slightly to call out the personal/business dichotomy more clearly, and updated my earlier comment to take account of the new line numbers. Enjoy your new Finder keyboard command! 😄

[alex1823]

I would die to know how to create this shortcut for Windows!!!