Python program that automatically renames, moves and eventually converts any kind of files from the "DropsyncFiles" folder to the "Camera Uploads" folder.

• 1. Description
• 2. Getting started
  • 2.1 Dependencies
  • 2.2 Installing
  • 2.3 Executing program
• 3. Version history

dropsync_shift_rename.py is a Python program that allows you to automatically, rename, centralize and eventually convert (e.g. from ".m4a" to ".mp3", from ".webp" to ".png", etc.) all files synchronized in the "DropsyncFiles" folder to the "Camera Uploads" folder.

Dropbox is certainly the most reliable file hosting service out there. This application allows you to easily synchronize files such as pictures and text files between different devices (computers, tablets, phones, etc.). Many users utilize Dropbox to automatically upload their photos from their phone to their computer. Although this solution is just ideal for iPhones, it is much less useful for Android phones. In fact, for these devices, photos received from WhatsApp conversations (for example) are not uploaded to the cloud. Indeed, only the documents located in the DCIM directory (/storage/emulated/0/DCIM) of the phone (i.e. photos and videos taken with the Android device, screenshots, video captures, etc.) are synchronized with the Dropbox account. Unlike iPhones, Android phones must therefore make use of a third-party application to synchronize files from WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, etc. An effective solution is the Dropsync Ultimate Android app. This application allows to sync multiple pairs of folders between the Android phone and the Dropbox account. As depicted in the settings image below, I decided in my case to sync all documents from (for instance) the WhatsApp, Telegram and Snapchat folders on my Android phone.

Here is the list of Android apps for which the storage folder is currently one-way synced from the SD card of my phone to my Dropbox account via Dropsync Ultimate:

Note: TubeMate 3 (the successor to VidMate) can be used to download YouTube videos in both ".mp4" and ".mp3" formats. This is the reason why Download Music Mp3 tends to be less used because this app only allows to download YouTube videos in ".mp3" format.

The Python program dropsync_shift_rename.py allows to rename the synchronized files in the the DropsyncFiles directory on the computer (among others by adding their creation date) and to centralize them in the Camera Uploads folder, where they are supposed to arrive in the case of an iPhone. It also takes care of removing unwanted files that I don't want to store, such as photos and videos that I would have sent myself to friends via WhatsApp.

Note: the Dropsync Shift and Rename Alfred workflow implements the dropsync_shift_rename.py Python program. After installing the Alfred macOS app and the Dropsync Shift and Rename workflow, simply type the ds hotkey in the Alfred search bar. The dropsync_shift_rename.py Python program is then automatically triggered and runs in iTerm2.

• Tested on macOS Big Sur version 11.4
• Python 3.8

pip install -r requirements.txt

• To access useful help messages, type following Terminal command at the root of the project:

  /usr/local/bin/python3.8 src/dropsync_shift_rename.py -h

• To use the program, adapt the path constants DROPSYNCFILES_DIRECTORY_PATH and CAMERA_UPLOADS_DIRECTORY_PATH defined at the beginning of the code. Then, to run the program, type following Terminal command at the root of the project:

  /usr/local/bin/python3.8 src/dropsync_shift_rename.py

Notes:

• With a Bash Terminal window, /usr/local/bin/python3.8 can simply be replaced by python3.8.
• In case the Dropbox/DropsyncFiles/Media_UnidirectionalSync_AndroidToMac/ folder weights more than 1[MB] after transfer (i.e., after running the program), iTerm2 is not exited in order to let the user observe the log messages in the Terminal to determine where the error comes from and what caused this issue. In fact, in case of normal operation of the program, this folder should be completely empty after running the program (all files should be transferred to the Dropbox Camera Upload folder. If this Dropbox/DropsyncFiles/Media_UnidirectionalSync_AndroidToMac/ folder is not empty, it means that an error occurred somewhere during the program execution.

• 0.1
  • Initial release