Download File Version

To download a specific file version, pass the GET /files/:id/content the ID of the file to get the content for, as well as its version ID.

curl -i -L -X GET "https://api.box.com/2.0/files/12345/content?version=4" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \

BoxFile file = new BoxFile(api, "id");
Collection<BoxFileVersion> versions = file.getVersions();
BoxFileVersion firstVersion = versions.iterator().next();

FileOutputStream stream = new FileOutputStream(firstVersion.getName());
firstVersion.download(stream);
stream.close();

file_id = '11111'
file_version = client.file_version('12345')
version_content = client.file(file_id).content(file_version=file_version)

string fileId = "11111";
Stream versionContents = await client.FilesManager.DownloadStreamAsync(fileId, versionId: "22222");

client.files.getReadStream('123456', { version: '98765' }, callback);

Download URL

When not using the SDKs, this API call will return a HTTP 302 Found status code, with a location header containing a link to the download URL, which looks something like this.

https://dl.boxcloud.com/d/1/[long-random-string]/download

By using the -L flag in cURL we are able to automatically follow this redirect.

Download URL expiry

Although this download URL can be passed to a user's browser to allow them to download the file, the URL does expire and should be requested again for any further downloads.

File not ready

If the file is not ready to be downloaded yet a retry-after header will be returned indicating the time in seconds after which the file will be available for the client to download.

This response can occur when the file was uploaded immediately before the download request.