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Question

Do File and/or Folder Ids ever change?

  • May 22, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 12 views
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Can id values on files and folders can ever change once the file has been created? And are those values guaranteed to be unique?

 

I am currently writing an integration between box and a web portal, specifically to allow users to download documents uploaded into box via another system.

 

Right now my process is: 

  1. Search for file using filename
  2. Validate that the file is correct.
  3. Download the file. 

What I would like to do is call steps 1 & 2, and then store off the file id. That way if a user calls download later, I can just specify the file id to download, instead of needing to search. This only works if the id doesn't change though. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

    3 replies

    C
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     File and Folder IDs are guaranteed to be unique and do not change over the item's lifetime — you're definitely okay to store those IDs and use them later to access the items.

    C
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    Hi ,

     

    Welcome to the Box Community and thanks for your first post in the forum!

     

     

     

     

    You're correct that file and folder ID's never change. Once created, it has a unique ID that does not change despite moving it, renaming it or adding more content to the folder. Hope that helps your query!

    C
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    Thanks for your reply!

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