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I haven't accessed my account for a while and all my files are missing

I have saved document on the dropbox free account since 2015, returning to it last week to check for a document I needed do badly and I realize all my files are missing. it's no where to be found. Please how can I retreive all my files back to include pictures.

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Rich

@blings wrote:
I have saved document on the dropbox free account since 2015, returning to it last week ... all my files are missing.

When was the last time you accessed the account? If the account was idle for more then a year, then it would have been deleted due to inactivity and you're now signed in to a new, empty account.

If you've been using the account all along, check your Events page to view the file activity for your account.

blings

Last signed in 2020. No documents on event page. is there away I can retrieve all the douments back?

Rich

@blings wrote:
Last signed in 2020. No documents on event page. is there away I can retrieve all the douments back?

If you haven't signed in since 2020 then the account was most certainly deleted due to inactivity and you're now signed in to a new, empty account. Unfortunately, once an account has been deleted, it's not possible to recover the account or the files that were in it.

susanvg

Rich,
This is concerning. I see another person has this problem. Why did my previous two helpers not know this? Why would Dropbox do this without a warning? I was taking care of my terminally ill husband at home for two years. Computers sit, comparatively unimportant. Dropbox deleted thousands of dollars of irreplaceable files and recordings. 🤦🏻‍♀️
My login info was intact. I saw all my files, just couldn’t open or download two I tried. Then, all of them (over 3-4 years, perhaps 50 files/recordings) disappeared before my eyes, without action on my part. Thank you for your response to @blings.
Susan

Rich

@susanvg wrote:
Why did my previous two helpers not know this? Why would Dropbox do this without a warning?

If you're referring to your other thread, you mentioned that you could see the files in your account before they disappeared. Perhaps they believe it's a different scenario. When an account is going to be deleted due to inactivity, Dropbox sends several emails to the email address associated with the account.

blings

It's fsutrating and something need to be done, An important document I need to access is completely vanish. without any notification of them wipping out my file is ridiculous. Crazy part about this, there is no live agent capabilty to talk to on what is going on and how this could be retrieved.

blings

I can't recollect getting any email, perhaps why have a free basic account when dropbox knows they would delete peoples files.

Mark

@blings wrote:
It's fsutrating and something need to be done, An important document I need to access is completely vanish. without any notification of them wipping out my file is ridiculous. Crazy part about this, there is no live agent capabilty to talk to on what is going on and how this could be retrieved.

If the account has been removed I'm afraid it cannot be retrieved. Once an account is marked as inactive its permanently removed.

susanvg

Thank you Rich. If you’re sure, then I’m screwed. I checked email often enough and would have responded to something like this. In fact, though I don’t think it was Dropbox (yet could have been), I received emails about opening an account with 1 or 2 companies and did. Oh well. Hard lesson at a horrible time in our world.

LaurenB120

I let my account go dormant in 2019. It had photos from 2013-2019 or so.

I am pretty sure Dropbox moved to memberships and my account has been erased of all photos.

I had a friend pass which prompted the sign on. Is there any way to pay to restore it?

Hannah

Hey @LaurenB120, thanks for taking the time to post to the Dropbox Community.

If I understand correctly, you hadn't accessed your Dropbox account since 2019, is that right?

After 12 months of inactivity, your account probably got disabled, which is something you would have received an email about, prior to the deletion.

If that's the case, then the account and its contents cannot be recovered.

Are you being prompted to create a new account, when you try to sign in?

LaurenB120

This also happened to me from 2019. I was wondering if after adding the plan someone here might know where the “add-on” upgrades are after signing up for a plan?

LaurenB120

Hi Hannah,

No, it still accepted my google email and login. Had no trouble there. I did just sign up for the “Plus” account and it says there are some package add ins to go back 10 years but I don’t see it on mine…is this still an option for retrieval?

Jay

HI @LaurenB120, just to confirm, are there any files on your account in the events page or the deleted files page?

Note that purchasing paid plans or add-ons are not retroactive, so you wouldn't be able to recover files deleted outside of 30 days ago.

LaurenB120

Hi Jay,

No, nothing is there. That’s too bad. Where did Dropbox put it all of the deleted stuff?
Lauren

Jay

If you're not seeing the missing files on the deleted files page, then there's a few possibilities as to why this might be the case:

The files are on another Dropbox account
They were on a shared folder you don't have access to any more
The files were deleted outside of the 30 day period
The files were permanently deleted

However, from what you described, it sounds like you created a new account using your Google login. Since the old account hasn't been accessed since 2019, it was most likely deactivated, meaning it wouldn't be possible to recover those files.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful on this matter.

RohanDT

I have had drop box for quite a few years and just recently signed in and noticed all my photos are missing. These files were never deleted or moved my me. Does drop box have the right to delete a customers file without there knowledge and or approval? Yet for awhile they were always messaging me that my storage is full and needed to purchase additional space.

Hannah

Sorry to hear that your files are missing, @RohanDT.

How long has it been since you last accessed your Dropbox account?

Now that you've accessed it, did it allow you to just sign in, or were you perhaps prompted to create a new account instead?

RohanDT

Thanks Hannah. I haven't accessed my account in a few years well and no I didn't sign into a new account. I signed in via my Google email.

Hannah

Hmm, if you hadn't signed into your account for more than 12 months, the account itself would have been deleted by now, but perhaps you had some kind of device linked that kept this from happening.

What do you see in your events page? Do you see anything related to the files that you're missing?