How to Move Files and Photos Between Dropbox and iCloud
· 5 min read · Updated
By hand, moving between Dropbox and iCloud means downloading everything to a computer and uploading it again. iCloud.com hands out photos 1,000 at a time, and the computer needs disk space for whatever you are moving. A transfer app that connects to both can stream the files across instead, one at a time, so nothing has to fit on your disk at once.
Blober connects to Dropbox and to iCloud, both iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos, and copies in either direction. This guide covers both directions and the things that change on the way.
You need two connections in Blober:
- iCloud. You sign in on Apple's own login page in a window Blober opens. Access iCloud Data on the Web must be on in your Apple account settings. With Advanced Data Protection on, Apple can refuse access through the web. Blober then shows an error, and turning Advanced Data Protection off for the move is the fix.
- Dropbox. Use a generated access token, which expires after about four hours, or create a Dropbox app and enter its app key and secret, which keeps working. For a big move, use the app key. See the Dropbox setup guide.
Check your iCloud storage before a big move into iCloud. Uploads into a full account fail.
- Create a workflow. Choose iCloud as the source and pick the iCloud Photos root for your library, or iCloud Drive for files.
- Select everything, or the items you want.
- Choose Dropbox as the destination and a folder, for example
/iCloud Photos. - Keep deduplication on Skip if a file with the same name exists, the default.
- Start the transfer.
What you get from iCloud Photos:
- The originals. Blober reads each item's original file, not a preview or a re-encoded JPEG, so a Mac with Optimize Storage on doesn't limit what you get.
- Unedited photos. Edits you made in the Photos app aren't applied to the file.
- Live Photos as one file, without a separate video part.
- Your own library only. Shared albums, a Shared Library, hidden photos and Recently Deleted aren't included.
iCloud Drive files keep their folder structure in Dropbox.
Choose where the files should end up first, because iCloud has two places to put them:
| Destination | Use it for | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| iCloud Photos | photos and videos you want in the Photos timeline | folders are dropped, each item joins the timeline |
| iCloud Drive | documents, raw photos, anything you want kept in folders | files stay files, folders are kept |
Then:
- Create a workflow. Choose Dropbox as the source and select the folders you want.
- Choose iCloud as the destination, then the iCloud Photos or iCloud Drive root.
- Start the transfer.
- Only photos and videos go in. Camera raw files such as
dng,cr2,arw,nef,orfandrafare skipped with a message, and so are documents. Send those to iCloud Drive instead. - Each photo gets the date Dropbox holds for the file, its modified date. Look at a few photos in the timeline after the first run. If those files were re-saved since they were taken, they appear on the day they were re-saved.
- Photos has no folders, so your Dropbox folder names don't come across.
- A new item can take a few seconds to show in the timeline.
- Deduplication by name doesn't work in iCloud Photos. Run a folder once, and on later runs select only the new files, or you can end up with copies.
Files and folders arrive as they were in Dropbox. Skip-by-name works here, so running the workflow again only adds files that aren't there yet. Folders that someone shared with you in iCloud Drive work too, as long as you can edit them.
Blober runs on your Mac, Windows or Linux computer. Each file streams from one cloud to the other through your computer, so you don't need room for the whole library.
A failed file is retried. If you pause, or iCloud asks you to sign in again, resume the task: it carries on from the files already finished, and the file that was in progress starts again.
- Albums don't come across in either direction. Blober reads and writes iCloud Photos as one timeline.
- Dropbox team folders and team spaces don't show up, only your own Dropbox.
- Dropbox Paper documents can't be downloaded, so they fail while the other files carry on.
- Sharing settings and links stay behind. Blober moves files.
- It doesn't sync. Run the workflow again when you want new files copied.
Can I move my whole iCloud Photos library to Dropbox? Yes. Select the iCloud Photos root and send it to a Dropbox folder. Blober reads the originals, so the 1,000-item limit of iCloud.com doesn't apply.
Will my photos keep their dates in Dropbox? The capture date inside each photo stays there. Blober copies the original file.
Why did some Dropbox files not go into iCloud Photos? iCloud Photos only accepts photos and videos, and it refuses camera raw formats. Blober skips those with a message. Copy them to iCloud Drive.
Can I copy Dropbox to iCloud Drive without filling my Mac? Yes. Blober streams each file from Dropbox to iCloud Drive, so the Dropbox and iCloud apps don't need to download anything.
Does Blober work on Windows and Linux for iCloud? Yes. Blober signs in through Apple's own login page on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Do I have to keep my computer on? Yes, until the transfer finishes. If it sleeps, resume the task and it continues from the finished files.