# 207 Multi-Status: WebDAV Per-Resource Results

> 207 Multi-Status carries an XML body with a separate status per resource. See a PROPFIND example, how to parse it, and why the top-level code is not the result.

Source: https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/207
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04

> **TL;DR:** 207 Multi-Status is a WebDAV code (RFC 4918) that wraps several independent results in an XML `multistatus` body. The top-level 207 only means "here is the report": read each `<response>` element's own `<status>` to know what happened.

## What it means

When one request touches many resources (listing a collection, deleting a folder, moving a tree), the outcome can be mixed. Rather than choosing one status, the server returns 207 and a body with one result per resource.

```http
PROPFIND /files/ HTTP/1.1
Host: dav.example.com
Depth: 1
Content-Type: application/xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<d:propfind xmlns:d="DAV:"><d:prop><d:getcontentlength/></d:prop></d:propfind>
```

```http
HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<d:multistatus xmlns:d="DAV:">
  <d:response>
    <d:href>/files/report.pdf</d:href>
    <d:propstat>
      <d:prop><d:getcontentlength>2457600</d:getcontentlength></d:prop>
      <d:status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</d:status>
    </d:propstat>
  </d:response>
  <d:response>
    <d:href>/files/secret.txt</d:href>
    <d:status>HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden</d:status>
  </d:response>
</d:multistatus>
```

A mixed failure for a `DELETE /files/` on a collection looks the same: `report.pdf` could be deleted, `secret.txt` returned 403. The collection itself is not removed, and the 207 lists only the member that failed. RFC 4918 section 9.6.1 says a server SHOULD NOT add [424 Failed Dependency](https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/424) entries for the ancestors in a DELETE, because the client can infer them. Where 424 does show up is inside a `PROPPATCH` response, when one property change fails and the rest are rolled back with it.

Every `<response>` carries either a `<status>` for the whole resource or one or more `<propstat>` blocks with property-level statuses (some properties 200, others 404 because they do not exist).

## Where you will meet it

- WebDAV file servers: Apache `mod_dav`, nginx with the DAV module, Nextcloud, ownCloud, SharePoint, Synology.
- CalDAV and CardDAV: calendar and contacts sync (`REPORT` and `PROPFIND`), including iCloud, Google Calendar's CalDAV endpoint, Radicale and Fastmail.
- Mounting network drives (macOS Finder, Windows "Map network drive"), rclone, `cadaver` and `davfs2`.

```bash
curl -s -X PROPFIND -H 'Depth: 1' -u alice https://dav.example.com/files/ | xmllint --format -
```

## Handling it correctly

1. Treat 207 as a transport success only. Parse the XML, loop over `response` elements, and apply per-item status.
2. For writes, treat any non-2xx entry as a partial failure and decide whether to roll back or retry only the failed items.
3. `Depth: infinity` PROPFIND on big trees is expensive and often disabled; servers answer 403 with `<d:propfind-finite-depth/>`.
4. Do not rely on caching 207 responses. They are not in the set of status codes cacheable by default, and the body depends on the request body (PROPFIND, REPORT).

```javascript
const xml = new DOMParser().parseFromString(await res.text(), 'application/xml')
for (const r of xml.getElementsByTagNameNS('DAV:', 'response')) {
  const href = r.getElementsByTagNameNS('DAV:', 'href')[0].textContent
  const status = r.getElementsByTagNameNS('DAV:', 'status')[0]?.textContent
  if (status && !/\s2\d\d\s/.test(status)) console.warn(href, status)
}
```

This only reads the response-level status; check each `propstat` too if you care about property results.

## Related

- [424 Failed Dependency](https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/424)
- [423 Locked](https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/423)
- [200 OK](https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/200): use a plain 200 when there is nothing per-resource to report.
- [507 Insufficient Storage](https://howhttpworks.com/status-codes/507): another WebDAV code.
- [Status codes overview](https://howhttpworks.com/guides/status-codes-overview)