Important photos are suddenly gone from my Dropbox Basic account. Can I retrieve them?

Question

I have had the basic plan for 10 years.

On it are thousands of photos of my daughter since birth.

I often access the app to just look at old pictures - last time i did this was about 2 months ago.

But now the pictures/files have gone. Gutted. this is the only DB account i have. I have checked deleted items but nothing in there. The events page does show activity.

Please can someone let me know how to retrieve my files/pics - desperate to speak to someone at dropbox directly.

Megan · Answer

Hey @DebraGannaway123!

I can't make any promises, but I'd like to investigate further. I went ahead and reached out via email, in order for us to have a closer look into this. Reply back to me, and we'll take it from there.

Thanks a bunch!

DebraGannaway123 · Answer

Nothing in the events section.

I dont know when the files were deleted.

Is there anything else that can be done please?

Megan · Answer

Hey there, @DebraGannaway123, let me also jump in here!

Since you received an email warning you about your storage space, this aligns with what Nancy mentioned earlier—that the issue was a result of your Dropbox account being over quota. Would you mind checking your events page as well, and letting me know if you see your files listed there?

Unfortunately, if your files were deleted and have passed your plan's recovery window, you cannot pay to restore them. File recovery windows are not retroactive, and upgrading your account now will only grant a longer recovery window for files deleted after the upgrade.

Lastly, because we don't know exactly when the files were deleted, timing is critical. As noted in the Help Center article: "Once you have enough storage, you can recover your deleted files and folders for 30 days after deletion. If you don’t take any action before 30 days, your files and folders will be permanently deleted."

I hope this clarifies things!