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All my files disappeared from Macbook after deleting dropbox.

amalb

All my files disappeared from Macbook after deleting dropbox. When i re-installed drop box i only got some of them back because the most recent ones (since september 2020) weren't synced to my dropbox. Is there a way i can get my files back please? I contacted Apple and they told me to contact dropbox.

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Megan

Hey @amalb, welcome to our Community!

If the files were never synced to your Dropbox account online, then the chances of recovering them are very slim.

If I were you, I'd look at the
events page to see what's going on.

Keep me posted on the results.

amalb

Hey Megan

Thank you for your reply. This is the only thing i see when i click on the events page. Screenshot 2022-03-14 at 10.22.53.png

What i don't understand is, how did those files get deleted if they weren't synced in the first place 😞 I hope i can get them back.

Krisshaceracho

didn’t notice that my mac’s desktop and downloads folder file path is routed to dropbox. This morning, i decided to delete my dropbox app on my mac and now all my files are gone. Is there a way that i can retrieve my files?

Krisshaceracho

Same issue!!

Krisshaceracho

I was just on the phone with apple support and they just checked the terminal and it shows that my desktop and downloads are actually routed to dropbox. So when i deleted dropbox this morning, all my files are now gone

Megan

Hi @amalb, thank you for your screenshot!

If you see no sign of the files, then is there a chance that you have another Dropbox account and that they got uploaded there?

Also, @Krisshaceracho it seems you're referring to our computer backup feature.

You can find detailed instructions on how to disable it
here.

If you need anything else, let me know.

amalb

Hi Megan

Is there a way to know which accounts are made on my name. I have many e-mail adreses and i tried to sign in with all of them but there are no other accounts. If i remember correctly this is the only account i have. I signed out last year on my laptop that's why the files didn't sync.

Hannah

Hey @amalb, sorry for jumping in here.

I'm afraid there's no way for you to check how many accounts you might have created.

A workaround would be to try to sign in with each of your email addresses, try the forgot password option and check if a password reset email reaches that address.

Regarding your files, have you searched your computer, like your trash, for example?

mtnkate

Dropbox whacked my Macbook Air M1. Like others, my desktop and downloads folder are gone. I only used dropbox for a very short time because it KILLED my storage and seriously pushed my 8GB of RAM to the limit even when running only basic apps. How do I recover my desktop and my Downloads folder?

Megan

Hi @mtnkate, I'd be happy to answer this for you!

It seems you've enabled our Computer backup feature.

This Help Center contains detailed instructions for disabling it and restoring your content.

If you need anything else, let me know.

agusvon

Hi @amalb , could you recover the files finally? I’m having the same issues and I’m losing years of work in that files!

Jackson

Hi @agusvon, thank you for posting.

Did you delete the Dropbox folder, before deleting the Dropbox app?

If you have not deleted the Dropbox folder before or after deleting the app, your files could still be in the Dropbox folder, under a folder called PC or Mac.

Can you also check your events page, and see if you can find a deletion event related to your missing files?

Let me know if you find them.

agusvon

Hi Jackson. Thanks for your email. I see that also you answer in a conversation with the community. I never use dropbox and of course that I didn’t how works.
I installed dropbox for a minute because someone send me a dropbox file to see through email. Then the page request me to download the app. I did it but I saw that some set ups in my mac changed and I didn’t like. So I delete the Dropbox mac in my computes. All my files from “Downloads” (Many years of work, my job , everything information super important for me) disappeared from my Macbook after deleting dropbox .

When I re-installed dropbox I only got some of them back because maybe when I delete the app my files were syncing, so the files weren't synced to my dropbox. I contacted apple and they tolde to contact you guys.

I'm desperate, I hope you can give me a solution I lost a lifetime of work.

What I don't understand is, how easy is all that files get deleted if they weren't synced in the first time, a lot of people maybe don’t know about dropbox and that power that your app gets, the access to all the files, it’s dangerous.

I still have faith that there is some way to get them back 😓

Thanks Jackson

agusvon

On dropbox I can see all my folder in Mac Section, but they are empty inside, there's no files or images inside the folders. In some of the a few files, but the most part of my files are missing.

This was all the folder that disappeared in my mac, they are there in dropbox account. But the most of the folder are empty, all my information is missing.

Megan

Hi @agusvon, thanks for the added info, and sorry to jump in here!

Out of curiosity, have you tried looking for some example file names in your Mac's Finder?

Can you also search for Files on my computer or Files in Dropbox shortcuts in the location where you'd expect the files to be?

agusvon

Hi @Megan , I searched in all places. I'm desperate. I lost many years of work. What it happened is just you take power over my files and I gave you that permissions by mistake, and I didn't know that I was giving you that access. I deleted your app and all the stuff about Dropbox from my computer after 5 min that I downloaded your app. So basically you just sync the 1% of all my documents and files. But the rest 99% it's gone when I delete your app. It's crazy how easy you can lose years of information, your job, all of that.

Jay

Hi @agusvon, if the missing files weren’t syncing to your account, then it wouldn’t be possible to recover them from the site.

However, it might be possible to recover the files from the local machine from the recycle bin, or using a third party app or service to do so.

agusvon

Hi @Jay , I'm trying to recover from a third party app I'm scanning all lost files. Where I should start looking if I see the files? I have to search for a dropbox folder that I deleted once I deleted the app with all the documents and file or just to look for individual file in my history of the scanning?

Jay

The app itself should be able to detect any missing or recently deleted files on your machine, so it isn't necessary to specify a location to check. If you see any familiar files, then it should be related to the Dropbox folder.

Elli732

I'm facing a big problem:
Deleting the Dropbox folder on my laptop deleted all of my documents.
I checked the folder carefully before deleting it and it only contained documents I no longer needed.
I wanted to free up storage space on my almost full laptop and thought I no longer need the documents and can delete them.
The problem I am facing now is that ALL the documents that I had saved on my laptop were deleted because I didn't know that my desktop and the automatically created "Documents" folder were saved on the Dropbox and thus also were saved in said deleted Dropbox folder, but without them being visible.

I ask for clarification on how I can find my (unintentionally) deleted data again.

Thank you for your help.

Kind regards

Megan

Hi @Elli732, welcome to our Community!

If you access your account's deleted files page online, are you able to see the content there?

What about your events page? What do you see there?

Keep me posted!

Elli732

Hi @Megan
no unfortunately I cannot find any file there.

Megan

Hi @Elli732, if you access your Dropbox account online, and search for some example file names that you're missing, does it come up with any results?

What if you do the same on your File Explorer?

Elli732

Hi @Megan
no i can't find any file anywhere neither in Dropbox nor in my file explorer.
I just want to mention, that I didn't even have the "Dropbox" Application installed on my Laptop only the said folder was there.
After all my files were gone I installed Dropbox to check if they would be there maybe, but they weren't there.

Megan

Hi @Elli732, you mentioned that the app wasn't installed to your laptop, when you deleted the folder.

Did you remove the app from the device long ago?

In any case, it seems that the app wasn't actively syncing this folder to your account. Provided that it was, you would be able to see any changes (additions, or deletions) in your events page, or deleted files page.

Based on the info you've provided me, it seems none of these changes synced to your Dropbox account, therefore on our end, you wouldn't be able to restore them.

josesoaresferreira

I disconnected the dropbox because I use an external disk. in doing so, all documents were deleted from my computer! Is this allowed??????

Megan

Hi @josesoaresferreira, sorry to hear about that!

When you say you disconnected Dropbox, do you mean that you uninstalled the app? Did you use our Computer backup feature, by any chance?

Also, if I were you, I'd check both deleted files page, and events page for any missing content.

Let me know what you find there.

Juancho227

So I’m in this situation right now. I removed Dropbox because Mac storage said it was taking up 300gb of space. After doing so everything disappeared from my desktop. I redownloaded Dropbox and the files are there under MAC. However when I go to open up certain files it says the file path is corrupted or I’m missing media files, samples, etc. how do I fix this? I restored all deleted files to see if it would help but nothing is working

amalb

Hi @agusvon

Sadly no, i just accepted my faith and learned my lesson. I back up everything on an external hard drive now