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Issues with Shared Folders, accidental deletion, and restoration

One of my clients shared several folders with me that exceeded my storage allotment. Using the desktop app, yesterday I went through and was removing myself from the shares. Inadvertently, I "deleted" two folders (that was waaaay too easy to do - they are not even my folders!). When I noticed the error, I looked into my account's listing for deleted files and saw those two folders. Naturally, I selected them both and clicked on Restore. Nothing happened for the rest of the day, so I waited overnight. Today I checked: Both folders are still listed in "deleted files," but when I click each one individually and once again select "Restore," in both cases, it tells me the folders are empty. Questions.

1. Did I really delete my clients folders?

2. Have they now been restored?

3. If 1 is Yes, and 2 is No, what information do I need to give to my client to allow them to ensure they have not lost their important data?

Thanks very much for your help.

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Jay

For folders you've removed your access to, you won't be able to restore them from the deleted files page since they shouldn't be visible there. You'd need to get permission from the owner of those folders to re-add you again.

Regarding those folders you removed from Dropbox, this would be a deletion of the folder. You might be able to rejoin those folders from the shared folders page.

If the restored folder are showing up as empty, then it sounds like the files there can't be recovered from your end. Perhaps the owner of the folder could restore the actual file within the folders.

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Megan

Hi there, @rdarnell, welcome to our Community!

It sounds like you indeed deleted your client's shared folders, especially if they gave you editing access.

Have you checked your sharing tab, to see if you can add those folders back to your account? Also, are you able to see the folders along with their content, when you visit your account online?

Let me know more!

rdarnell

Thank you, Megan.

In the "Shared" tab of my account, I am not able to find the folders that ARE shown in the "Deleted files" tab. Neither can I see the folders along with their content when I visit my account online (I had removed myself as a shared contact).

As I previously mentioned, both folders are still listed in "deleted files," but when I click each one individually and once again select "Restore," in both cases, it tells me the folders are empty. So, to update my questions:

On the Deleted files page where these files are still shown, it says at the top, "You can restore any file deleted in the last 30 days." So, why am I unable to restore those folders, since they were just deleted yesterday? Thank you again for your help.

Nancy

Hi @rdarnell! I hope you don’t mind me jumping in.

Do you remember perhaps what was the approximate size of these folders?

Have you also tried to restore them via another browser on your computer? I’d like to check if you’ll keep experiencing the same behavior.

Let me know, and we’ll take it from there.

rdarnell

Good morning Nancy:

Thank you again for your help with this.

I just tried accessing the account in a new browser (Firefox): The results are all the same.

I do not know what the size was of the folders I accidently deleted - probably hundreds of megabytes apiece. The folder names are "01_DOMO" and "03_BTS".

Standing by and hoping for good news on this soon.

Sincerely - Roger Darnell

Jay

Hi @rdarnell, when you say you deleted the shared folder, could you clarify exactly how you did that?

Did you simply delete the folder from your files page on your account? Did you remove your access via the shared folders window?

In the events page, what does it say for those specific shared folders?

rdarnell

Thanks for your help, Jay. I will do this to the best of my memory.

I do not use Dropbox a lot, but I have had a free account from the earliest days of the company's public launch. At different times, I have had a few clients that use it a lot, and saw how they would share folders with me, which would impact my storage space. The company involved in these activities we are discussing (DOMO) is one of those that shared a lot of different folders with me - leading to notifications from Dropbox that all my space was used up and I needed to upgrade my account in order for it to start synching again.

As of Dec. 1, I wrapped up my work for DOMO, which meant I no longer needed access to the folders using up my Dropbox account's allotted space.

Feeling my way through the process of removing access, using the Desktop application (I don't use the mobile app), I went to the Shared Folders section of my account. For every folder shared by DOMO, I clicked on the three dots and selected "Remove me" from the options. For this next part, I am relying on memory as I cannot duplicate the steps, since I don't have many folders in my Dropbox account that others have shared with me. Again, I was going down the list and selecting "remove me" - but two folders had the option "remove from Dropbox" (I'm not sure that's right, since they were deleted) instead of "remove me." This is where I believe I made the mistake of selecting "remove from Dropbox," because the two folders (again, named 01_DOMO and 03_BTS), wound up listed under "Deleted files." Those two folders are still shown there, and when I select them to attempt to Restore them, each says it is empty. As previously mentioned, I never "owned" the folders, so it did not seem possible for me to delete them for the purposes of the content owners.

To answer your last question, under Activity on my account, on Dec. 7, it tells me: "You deleted 01_DOMO" at 2:50 pm; and "You deleted 03_BTS" at 2:49 pm.

Thank you again for your help - Roger D.

Jay

Regarding those folders you removed from Dropbox, this would be a deletion of the folder. You might be able to rejoin those folders from the shared folders page.

If the restored folder are showing up as empty, then it sounds like the files there can't be recovered from your end. Perhaps the owner of the folder could restore the actual file within the folders.