Dropbox/OneDrive & Alexa

[Use the _"Applet Creation Helper"_ builder](https://assistantcomputercontrol.com/applet_helper.php) on the ACC website, which will guide you how to make an applet for every available action!

In this guide, you'll learn how to create your own actions for Amazon Alexa using Dropbox or OneDrive and IFTTT, just like the default IFTTT applets available on the ACC website.

The screenshots shown in the guide shows Dropbox being chosen, but the procedure is exactly the same for OneDrive.

If you wish to use Google Drive instead of Dropbox, you can find a semi-advanced guide for that here.

For this example we will be creating a custom applet for the lock applet. You can pick any action from the Actions ] docs.

1. First step: Go to IFTTT and make a new applet

If you don't have an IFTTT account yet, create one. If you do have one, log in.
Go to the "My Applets" tab on the IFTTT website and click on "New Applet".

2. Second step: Create the "this" trigger

About IFTTT: (optional read) IFTTT is short for "If this then that". IFTTT consists of applets, which all have a this and a that action. So if this happens, do that.

1. Click on the + this button

2. Search for your assistant; in this guide we'll be using Amazon Alexa

3. As the action we're making this applet for is a simple one, we'll just go with the **"Say a simple phrase" trigger

4. Pick what you want Alexa to respond to. Use lower-case only. In this tutorial we'll make Alexa respond to "lock my computer"

3. Third step: Create the "that" trigger

1. Press the + that button
2. Search for "Dropbox" or "OneDrive" and press the square

3. Pick the "Create a text file" block
4. The "Field name" can be anything, and is not important. We'll just call it "computerAction".
5. The "Content" field is what's important; this is where we tell ACC what action we want to execute. For this example, we'll enter the value lock
6. (important) The "Dropbox/OneDrive folder path" should be AssistantComputerControl/ unless you have defined another folder in the ACC settings.

When all the fields are filled out, press "Create action"

4. Applet done!

Congratulations! You have now created an ACC applet. If you want to name your applet something specific, replace the default text in the big textbox, otherwise, just press the "Finish" button!

If the "Receive notifications when this Applet runs" is on and you have the IFTTT app on your phone, you will get a push-notification every time this applet runs. You will probably want to turn this off.

Remember to press "Finish", otherwise it won't save

5. Testing our applet

Now all there's left to do is to try and execute our newly created applet. Simply say whatever you chose as a trigger to your assistant, and it should execute.

In this tutorial we can "lock my computer". Whenever this phrase is said, a file called computerAction.txt which contains the text "lock". When ACC is open, this will lock your computer!

Troubleshooting

Does your applet not work? Here's a list of things you can go through to fix it;

1. Make sure Dropbox/OneDrive is installed and running on your computer: Dropbox/OneDrive should be running at all times along with the AssistantComputerControl software.
2. Check your IFTTT activity log and see if your applet even runs - if not, try going through the steps in this guide again.
3. Make sure Dropbox/OneDrive is not syncing a lot of files. If your Dropbox/OneDrive is downloading either some big files or a lot of files, it could take long enough that ACC will "give up" on the command when it finally arrives; an action can only be <30 seconds old (meaning created less than 30 seconds ago) for ACC to execute it (fail-safe to prevent old actions from appearing randomly and e.g. shut down your computer).

If your applet still doesn't work, come join our Discord server and ask for help there.