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Unlinking my device and deleting files on my laptop: what happens?

Hey!

I want to unlink my laptop from my dropbox account because I prefer to access my dropbox files through the webpage only. I don't want to have a dropbox folder on my laptop, even if it is online only. I only want to log into dropbox on the web and access my files from there. From my quick googling, I found that I should therefore "unlink" my device from my dropbox. OK. But then I noticed the option to also "Delete files from my personal Dropbox next time this computer comes online" - which is where I got confused. What does this mean? What does it mean by "next time this computer comes online"? I would like to delete the dropbox files/folder and dropbox from Finder on my laptop, yes, but I would not like to delete these files from my dropbox account (when accessing dropbox from a web browser / dropbox.com). I wouldn't want to accidentally delete files that I share with my colleagues, so I'm treading carefully here.

To summaries:

Does anyone know what exactly happens to the files in my dropbox if I...

1. unlike my laptop from my dropbox

2. tick the box that says "Delete files from my personal Dropbox next time this computer comes online."

Would greatly appreciate your help!

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Accepted answers

Hannah

Hey @Pippa_, thanks for posting your question to the Dropbox Community!

Unlinking a device from your Dropbox account will basically disconnect it from your Dropbox.

That means, that any changes made to the files on an unlinked computer, no longer affect the files in your Dropbox account online.

The "Delete files from my personal Dropbox next time this computer comes online." option is our remote wipe feature, which helps delete the files from the unlinked device, the next time it gets connected to the internet.

This is useful in case your device gets lost or stolen, for example, but your files online won't be affected.

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.

All comments

Hannah

Hey @Pippa_, thanks for posting your question to the Dropbox Community!

Unlinking a device from your Dropbox account will basically disconnect it from your Dropbox.

That means, that any changes made to the files on an unlinked computer, no longer affect the files in your Dropbox account online.

This is useful in case your device gets lost or stolen, for example, but your files online won't be affected.

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.

MamaBear2

Question: When I go to delete a file from my Dropbox folder on my computer the warning message comes up saying that the file will be wiped from my computer. It means ONLY from the Dropbox folder on my computer, not my system, right?

Hannah

Hey @MamaBear2, you are kind of correct here.

This warning means that the file will be deleted from your Dropbox in general.

That would be the Dropbox folder on your computer, any other devices you have linked to your Dropbox account and your account on dropbox.com.

However, if you have this file somewhere else on your computer, outside the Dropbox folder, that will not be affected whatsoever.

I hope this helps!

RM009

Hi Hannah,

Can Dropbox be clearer about this please. Perhaps a video showing each option with a step by step process.

I think what you’re saying is that any important files moved into Dropbox need to be moved outside the Dropbox app and folder or the unlink device feature will delete these original files or folders first placed into Dropbox ?

Also. Can any deleted file or folder due to the unlinking be restored / put back or is it completely lost ?

im having my MacBook Pro serviced and I’d like to not have any Dropbox folder accessing the Dropbox storage online. So do I unlink the device through settings and then delete the app and folder on the MacBook with the assumption that all files are still in the cloud Dropbox storage ?

Hannah

Thanks for your comments and feedback, @RM009, I'll make sure to pass it along to the team.

Unlinking a computer from your account won't delete any files from your local Dropbox folder; the files will need to be manually deleted.

There is a remote wipe feature that will allow you to unlink a computer and delete your files the next time the computer is connected to the internet, which is for cases when someone loses their computer or it gets stolen.

If this option is not selected though, unlinking a computer, won't delete the Dropbox folder.

If you're taking your computer to get serviced, you should definitely unlink it, to keep your files in Dropbox safe.

Just make sure that everything in your Dropbox folder is reflected in your account on dropbox.com first.