Hi, there!

Hi, I'm Felix. I automated my routine of scanning my documents, bills, etc. and archiving them onto my NAS. For this workflow I needed a script that automatically deletes all old files from my Dropbox. Of course there is a quite popular website which can do this for you, but they charge around 20 $/year for there minimum service. So I decided to make my own little Python Script doing that Job for me on my Raspberry Pi.

What does this script do?

• delete all files in a specified location, which are older than x days
• send notifications through IFTTT when the script runs and whenever a file gets deleted

Points written in italian are optional features.

Installation

1. Clone this repository onto your computer. git clone https://github.com/felixwttr/Dropbox_auto_deletion.git
2. Change into the projects directory cd Dropbox_auto_deltion
3. Install all required packages through pip Linux/Mac: pip3 install -r requirements.txt Windows: pip install -r requirements.txt
4. Edit the variables to fit your pupose.
   age_of_files = 30 # at which age files should be deleted?
working_dir = '/<observed_dir>/' # which folder should be observed?
ifttt_integration = True # do you wish to get an notification through IFTTT whenever a file gets deleted?
logging = True # do you want to have a log file with every action this skript does to your files?
run_ifttt_webhook_name = 'run_dropbox_automatic_deletion' # Name of your Webhook for notification whenever the scrips runs
deleted_ifttt_webhook_name = 'file_deleted' # Name of your Webhook for notification whenever a file gets deleted
5. The last Step is to edit the .env file. In this file you have to safe your Token for Dropbox and your Webhook Key for IFTTT. You don't have those? I'll show you how to get one.

Run this script automatically on your Raspberry Pi or any other Linux or macOS System

1. Do all the steps from Installation.
2. Change into the projects directory. cd <path-to-project>/
3. Run command pwd and copy the the full path
4. run command crontab -e and choose a standard editor if you didn't have set it before (I would recommend nano because I think it's the easiest)
5. Move to the bottom of the file and insert this line: 0 9 * * 1 /usr/bin/python3 /<path-to-project/Dropbox_auto_deletion.py This example line runs the script every Monday at 09:00 AM, but you can change to whatever you want. A little helper is this site Crontab Guru as it helps getting the right schedule expression.
6. After inserting the correct line just hit control + O and then control + X.

Now your script runs automatically on the schedule you just set.

How to get those Tokens and Keys?

Dropbox

1. Visit this site (DropBox - Create an App) and log in with your dropbox credentials
2. Choose "Scoped Access" as API
3. As type of access choose "Full Dropbox"
4. Give your app a telling name and click on "Create APP"
5. In the upcoming page change to the "Permissions" tab and give permissions for the following options and Submit your changes
   • files.metadata.write
   • files.content.write
   • files.content.read
6. Go back into the Settings tab and search for the OAuth 2 section.
7. Set the Access token expiration to No Expiration
8. Click on "Generate".

This is your Dropbox Token which needs to be copied into the .env file.

IFTTT (optional)

1. Visit Webhooks Status Page and log in with your IFTTT credentials.
2. Click on "Settings".
3. The URL next to "URL Status" contains your Webhook Key. It's the last section. https://maker.ifttt.com/use/<your_Webhook_key>

Copy this key into the .env file if you want IFTTT notifications

How does the script work?