Download ZIP Archive

Guides Downloads Download ZIP Archive

Download ZIP Archive

To download all files in a folder or an entire folder structure, you have to create and download a ZIP archive.

First, you need to create a ZIP archive containing the files or the folder structure. You can include up to 10,000 file and folder IDs unless you reach the account’s upload limit.

cURL

curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/2.0/zip_downloads" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
     -d '{
       "download_file_name": "January Financials",
       "items": [
         {
           "type": "file",
           "id": "12345"
         },
         {
           "type": "file",
           "id": "34325"
         },
         {
           "type": "folder",
           "id": "45678"
         }
       ]
     }'

Java

ArrayList<BoxZipItem> items = new ArrayList<BoxZipItem>();
BoxZipItem file = new BoxZipItem("file", "12345");
BoxZipItem folder = new BoxZipItem("folder", "156472");
items.add(file);
items.add(folder);
BoxZip zip = new BoxZip(api);
BoxZipInfo zipInfo = zip.create("Awesome Zip File", items);

Node

var name = 'test',
items = [
	{
		type: 'file',
		id: '466239504569'
	},
	{
		type: 'folder',
		id: '466239504580'
	}
];
client.files.createZip(name, items)
	.then(zip => {
		/* zip -> {
				"download_url": "https://api.box.com/2.0/zip_downloads/124hfiowk3fa8kmrwh/content",
				"status_url": "https://api.box.com/2.0/zip_downloads/124hfiowk3fa8kmrwh/status",
				"expires_at": "2018-04-25T11:00:18-07:00",
				"name_conflicts": [
					[
						{
							"id": "100",
							"type": "file",
							"original_name": "salary.pdf",
							"download_name": "aqc823.pdf"
						},
						{
							"id": "200",
							"type": "file",
							"original_name": "salary.pdf",
							"download_name": "aci23s.pdf"
						}
					],
					[
						{
							"id": "1000",
							"type": "folder",
							"original_name": "employees",
							"download_name": "3d366a_employees"
						},
						{
							"id": "2000",
							"type": "folder",
							"original_name": "employees",
							"download_name": "3aa6a7_employees"
						}
					]
				]
			}
		*/
	});

The response will look similar to the following:

{
"download_url":"https://dl.boxcloud.com/2.0/zip_downloads/25gvaXcIE4QJlinNiw2oHAQ==ZFs3Q2Xpd7pKBz7OyzXNrUaoW3aJxQRN5znAvyM-KpdEEPdWcQDKU-Dl85Ew/content",
"status_url":"https://api.box.com/2.0/zip_downloads/25gvaXcIE4QJlinNiw2oHAQ==ZFs3Q2Xpd7pKBz7OyzXNrUaoW3aJxQRN5znAvyM-KpdEEPdWcQDKU-Dl85Ew/status",
"expires_at":"2023-02-28T10:23:54Z",
"name_conflicts":[]
}

To download the ZIP archive, you need the ZIP download ID. You can find it in the response you got when you created the archive.

Go to status_url and copy the ID located betweenzip_downloads and content:

25gvaXcIE4QJlinNiw2oHAQ==ZFs3Q2Xpd7pKBz7OyzXNrUaoW3aJxQRN5znAvyM-KpdEEPdWcQDKU-Dl85Ew

Download URL is valid only for a the time specified in expires_at parameter.

Place the download ID in the file location URL as in the sample below to point to the right files.

cURL

curl -L GET "https://dl.boxcloud.com/2.0/zip_downloads/29l00nfxDyHOt7RphI9zT_w==nDnZEDjY2S8iEWWCHEEiptFxwoWojjlibZjJ6geuE5xnXENDTPxzgbks_yY=/content" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
     -o sample_curl.zip

.NET

BoxZipRequest request = new BoxZipRequest();
request.Name = "test";
request.Items = new List<BoxZipItemRequest>();

var file = new BoxZipRequestItem()
{
    Id = "466239504569",
    Type = BoxZipItemType.file
};
var folder = new BoxZipRequestItem()
{
    Id = "466239504580",
    Type = BoxZipItemType.folder
};
request.Items.Add(file);
request.Items.Add(folder);
Stream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\MyTest.zip");

BoxZipDownloadStatus status = await _filesManager.DownloadZip(request, fs);

Java

ArrayList<BoxZipItem> items = new ArrayList<BoxZipItem>();
BoxZipItem file = new BoxZipItem("file", "12345");
BoxZipItem folder = new BoxZipItem("folder", "156472");
items.add(file);
items.add(folder);
BoxZip zip = new BoxZip(api);
FileOutputStream stream = new FileOutputStream();
BoxZipDownloadStatus zipDownloadStatus = zip.download("Another Awesome Zip File", items, stream);
stream.close();
if (zipDownloadStatus.getState() == BoxZipDownloadStatus.State.SUCCEEDED) {
    System.out.println("Zip downloaded successfully");
}

Python

name = 'test'
file = mock_client.file('466239504569')
folder = mock_client.folder('466239504580')
items = [file, folder]
output_file = open('test.zip', 'wb')
status = client.download_zip(name, items, output_file)
print(f'The status of the zip download is {status["state"]}')

Node

var name = 'test',
items = [
	{
		type: 'file',
		id: '466239504569'
	},
	{
		type: 'folder',
		id: '466239504580'
	}
],
stream = new Readable();
client.files.downloadZip(name, items, stream)
	.then(status => {
		/* status -> {
				"total_file_count": 20,
				"downloaded_file_count": 10,
				"skipped_file_count": 10,
				"skipped_folder_count": 10,
				"state": "succeeded"
			}
		*/
	});

For downloads that take longer, you can monitor the download status using the status endpoint. This allows you to inspect the progress of the download as well as the number of items that might have been skipped.

cURL

curl -i -X GET "https://api.box.com/2.0/zip_downloads/29l00nfxDyHOt7RphI9zT_w==nDnZEDjY2S8iEWWCHEEiptFxwoWojjlibZjJ6geuE5xnXENDTPxzgbks_yY=/status" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>"

If you want to use SDKs to download the contents of the folder, follow this guide.

Download ZIP Archive

Download ZIP Archive

Create a ZIP Archive

Extract the ZIP download ID

Download files

Related APIs