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Mass deletion happened today - Says it was me, it wasn't - Need help please

I have dropbox for our team. We have (usually) group folders that I created and shared from the Content Manager page...
Well, today I went to open an Excel file that I use most days and Excel said the file was not in its expected location.

I opened windows explorer to find all the group folders empty (that's 119,120 files missing)
My personal folders deleting in front of my eyes
I checked my email and Dropbox had just sent me an email alerting of the Mass Deletion
Group folders all gone at this point
I opened my browser (from the dropbox desktop app) and logged in
- I have not been able to "Unwind", "Restore" or the like

Has anyone else got this problem at the moment?

Strange thing also (as if all our files being trashed wasn't bad enough) I try to view "Deleted Files" and it's like the folders and files never existed.

The only place I get to see the deleted folders is when viewing the "Alert"
I don't know how many times I've clicked the blue "Restore" button (top right) but the files don't appear to be available
Clicking restore opens an "Activity Log"
- Some of the items have "Restore" on the ellipsis
- Message I get: "Can't Restore. Can only restore items in the team space."

Does anyone know where the "Team Space" is located?

I've been on this for three hours now and going in dropbox circles.

Thanks for reading/listening.

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Accepted answers

Philip_Smith

So, I just found out as an admin I can delete a file "permanently". It would be a good thing to have known this was even possible - I guess I never tried to delete a file permanently before. It was news to everyone on our team.

Please DropBox - Why is "Dropbox Rewind" not always available? Crazy stuff!

I thought for sure we would recover our files because we are on a paid DropBox, you know, you have 180 days to get them back. Not the case for us, we have lost the lot.

Now for the task of compiling what data we have on other devices. We won't be solely trusting DropBox with our data from now on.

Lesson learned the hard way.

All comments

Jay

Hi @Philip_Smith, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Are you able to see anything on the events page regarding the deletions?

Have you already contacted the Dropbox support team for further assistance on this matter?

This will help me to assist further!

Philip_Smith

Hi Jay

Thanks for the reply. We found the cause of the mass deletion.

Our server computer has been hacked. The hacker left a ransom message on a text file.

Yes, I've been in touch with Dropbox support and our case has been escalated appropriately. Now to wait and see if we gain access to our files again.

And, FYI, we have changed all our passwords for all our accounts and have taken the server offline.

Jay

Thanks for the update, and I'm sorry to hear about the circumstances.

Our support team should be able to assist further with any account-specific queries from there on.

Philip_Smith

Please DropBox - Why is "Dropbox Rewind" not always available? Crazy stuff!

I thought for sure we would recover our files because we are on a paid DropBox, you know, you have 180 days to get them back. Not the case for us, we have lost the lot.

Now for the task of compiling what data we have on other devices. We won't be solely trusting DropBox with our data from now on.

Lesson learned the hard way.

shajuniper

This same exact thing happened to me!! I am the owner of a folder, and had given access to another user. That user deleted their Dropbox account, and somehow ALL OF MY FILES went missing from that folder! What the heck. This is absolutely not okay. I can see the files in the events area, and "recently deleted", after scrolling down for literally 30 minutes, since each photo is listed as an "event".. but because it was more than 30 days ago (like 6 or 7 weeks ago), I cannot recover the files. This is so messed up! Because I was never informed in the first place from Dropbox, that these files were deleted. I am livid! If this doesn't get fixed, I plan to leave Dropbox and switch over to another platform. I absolutely cannot have this happen.

Nancy

Hi @shajuniper, I’m really sorry to hear this.

In general, if one of the shared folder members deletes their Dropbox account, this shouldn’t affect the files in your shared folder, as also described here.

Is there any chance that the other user deleted these files manually, before deleting their own account?

bonn88

I just discovered the same! I’m the account owner and found 100’s of files missing that I absolutely did delete. I don’t see them listed in my deleted file to try to recover them. It is outside the 30 day window so I am hoping they can still be recovered somehow from Dropbox storage servers. I sent an email to support but since I don’t have a restoration link I am unsure my email was submitted properly.

Nancy

Hi @bonn88!

Do you mind sharing with me the ticket number from your support request? I’d like to take a look, as well.

Also, have you checked your Events page? Are you able to locate the deletion event there, and send its URL to our support?

bonn88

Hello Nancy,

I didn't receive a ticket number. There were two messages that appeared-one at the bottom of the screen stating that my message was submitted and a second message in red stating I need to submit a correct url - which I was unsure of.

I am able to see lots of files in the events page you provided (thank you!).

I will send a url to support.

Jay

Hi @bonn88, once you get a ticket ID from the automated email response, please let us know!

bonn88

Hello, I have sent two separate emails requesting help with my missing files but I have not received a ticket ID. Please help!

Thank you.

Jay

As you're not receiving the email via the site, in order to look into this matter in more detail, would it be possible for us to reach out to the email associated with your forum profile?

bonn88

Yes, please contact me at that email address.

Hannah

Hey @bonn88, I just sent you an email, so we can continue from there.

Thanks!

Graham

Hi @bonn88,

Thank you for visiting us here on the Dropbox Community. I hope you are well. I noticed you were having some issues with deleted files earlier this month and I just wanted to follow up with you here as I know exactly how frustrating it can be to unexpectedly lose some files. I see that your conversation moved to email so I was wondering if you had managed to recover the files you were looking for? If you're still experiencing difficulties in locating them, please let us know and we'll do whatever we can to help.

Thanks again, and have a great day!

Graham

Toonbox

I have the same case. The problem is that I can see the event in the list, but I have no links connected to this case or any other way to undo this action. Just the list of actions.

Hannah

Hey @Toonbox, do you see your deleted files in your deleted files page, so that you can restore them from there?