This article describes how to import files from, and export files to, Dropbox.

Importing files

To copy files from Dropbox to ecocloud's internal storage:

1. Start at the JupyterLab page.
2. If the file browser is not showing, bring it up by clicking on the "File Browser" tab (the folder icon on the left edge of the window).
3. Navigate to the folder you want the file(s) to be saved into. This should be somewhere under the "scratch" folder (see Directories on a Jupyter server below for more details)
4. From the "Dropbox" menu choose "Import". A dialog box will appear.
5. If prompted, sign into your Dropbox account.
6. Find the file(s) you want to import and select it. Multiple files can be selected.
7. Press the "Choose" button. Wait for the import to complete.

Note: if the dialog box does not appear, check your browser's address bar for a "blocked popup" icon (which usually looks like a rectangle representing a window). Click on it and configure your Web browser to allow pop-ups from ecocloud.

Also, if the dialog appears with an error message saying it "Could not communicate with ...", close the dialog box window and try again.

Large data files should be uploaded to the server's scratch storage. The server's scratch storage is anywhere on the server that is outside the "workspace" folder (the /home/jovyan/workspace directory). Warning: data in the scratch storage is lost when the server is terminated. The workspace folder (the /home/jovyan/workspace directory) corresponds to the ecocloud workspace storage: Notebooks and scripts can be stored there.  For more details, see the storage overview.

Caution: it does not warn you about name clashes. If a file already exists with the same name, it will be replaced with the file from Dropbox. The contents of the original file in the server is lost.

Exporting files

To copy files from ecocloud's internal storage to Dropbox:

1. Start at the JupyterLab page.
2. If the file browser is not showing, bring it up by clicking on the "File Browser" tab (the folder icon on the left edge of the window).
3. Find the file(s) you want to export and select them. Multiple files can be selected.
4. From the "Dropbox" menu choose "Export". A dialog box will appear.
5. If prompted, sign into your Dropbox account.
6. Navigate to the Dropbox folder you want the file(s) to be saved into.
7. Press the "Save" button.

Note: if the dialog box does not appear, check your browser's address bar for a "blocked popup" icon (which usually looks like a rectangle representing a window). Click on it and configure your Web browser to allow pop-ups from ecocloud.

Also, if the dialog appears with an error message saying it "Could not communicate with ...", close the dialog box window and try again.

Caution: it does not warn you about name clashes. If a file already exists with the same name, Dropbox will create a new file with a different name by appending parenthesis and a unique number to the name of the exported file.