Automation · Customer service and scheduling
Request a customer's documents on WhatsApp with a Dropbox file request
An AI agent creates the customer's folder in Dropbox, sends them a file request on WhatsApp and checks which documents have arrived.
How do I ask a customer on WhatsApp to send their documents to a Dropbox folder?
A Met connected to Dropbox checks whether the customer already has a folder and, if not, creates one inside the customers folder your team set up. On that folder it creates a file request and sends the link on WhatsApp: the customer uploads their ID, tax form or receipts on the Dropbox page, without seeing the rest of your account. When the customer says they uploaded, the Met lists the folder to confirm what arrived and what is missing, and if the reviewer has no access it shares a link to the folder. It does not check whether the documents are complete or readable: that is still your team's job.
What starts it
When the customer writes
It starts when a customer writes on WhatsApp to begin a process that needs documents, such as a loan, a rental or an enrollment. There is no trigger to configure: the Met assigned to the line runs the procedure inside that conversation.
Nothing to set up. The Met assigned to that channel picks up the conversation and runs the procedure inside it.
Who runs it
Support Met that receives documents
Customer service team
This is not a named, seeded Met. It is the Met that already answers the business's WhatsApp, with Dropbox connected. Its work ends when the customer's documents are in their folder and your team knows what arrived and what is missing.
Run by the customer support Met
Channels: WhatsApp
What you need connected
- Dropbox Automate and collaborate
6 steps · 6 tools
The procedure, step by step
Each step shows the tool that runs. They belong to the real connector: if one of them stopped existing, this page would not build.
- 1
Check whether the customer already has a folder
The Met searches your Dropbox for a folder with the customer's name or ID number, following the rule the skill sets. If it exists, it works on that one and does not create a duplicate folder for the same person.
- 2
Create the customer's folder
If it does not find one, the Met creates the customer's folder inside the customers folder your team set up, with a name that follows the same rule, so everything stays in one place.
- 3
Create the file request and send the link
On that folder, the Met creates a file request with a clear title, such as "Documents for your loan", and sends the customer the link on WhatsApp with the list of what it needs.
- 4
Resend the link if the customer lost it
If the customer comes back days later and cannot find the link, the Met checks the existing requests, finds that customer's one and sends it again, instead of creating another.
- 5
Confirm what arrived and what is missing
When the customer says they uploaded, the Met lists the folder and compares the files with what it asked for. If something is missing, it names it in the same conversation instead of treating the process as complete.
- 6
Hand the folder to the reviewer
If the person who reviews the documents has no access to that folder, the Met creates a shared link to the folder and sends it by email. It can invite up to 25 people on the same link.
Before you start
What you need ready
The Met solves none of these for you. If one is missing, the automation stops there.
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Dropbox connected with a customers folder
Create an app in the Dropbox App Console, paste its App key and App secret in Connections → Dropbox and authorize with an account that can see the customers folder. The admin leaves creating folders, file requests and shared links switched on.
-
A WhatsApp line with the Met assigned
The business connects its WhatsApp Business API line and assigns the support Met. The request link is delivered in that conversation; the documents stay in your Dropbox.
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The list of documents for each process
Your team writes in the Met's skill which documents each process needs and how folders are named, so the Met knows what to ask for and how to compare what arrived.
The limits
What this automation does NOT solve
Better said here than discovered halfway through the rollout.
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It does not check whether the documents are complete, current or readable: the page lists no tool that reads a file's content. It only compares the files that arrived.
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It does not find out on its own when the customer uploads something: it checks the folder when the customer writes again or when someone on the team asks.
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It does not save to Dropbox the photos the customer sends in the chat: it asks them to upload through the request link, because creating a file from the Met is text only.
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It does not ask for confirmation in the chat before creating the folder, the request or the link: if the action is on, it runs. The admin decides which actions stay on.
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It does not replace your personal data policy: the documents stay in your Dropbox with your account's permissions, and your team decides who sees them and how long they are kept.
FAQ
Questions about this automation
No. The file request lets them upload to that folder and nothing else. What is already in your Dropbox is not visible from the request page.
This procedure does not move them to Dropbox. The Met thanks them and asks them to upload through the request link, so everything ends up in the customer's folder and not scattered in the chat.
Dropbox returns up to 100 items per call when listing a folder. For the documents of one process that is plenty; a bigger folder is listed in parts.
Delete starts switched off and this procedure does not use it. If the admin turns it on, delete sends the folder to Deleted files, it does not remove it for good.
Keep going
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Want this automation running on your own data?
We will show it to you with your accounts connected, not with a canned demo.