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Missing activity on an Excel file, what can I do?

Hello,

I have aexcle file in my drop box that I update with information every week.

I was on vacation for 2 weeks and when I return the last version of the file was from 20/december/2022.

All the information I put and modify on last year is lost.

I check on the excluded files and is nothing there, check older versions of the file and the last one was from december.

The last activity I have on dropbox was from 10 of April, and that is impossible because I use it in august for sure.

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Megan

Hi @joao cruz, let's jump right into this!

You mentioned that you checked the activity of your account. How did you do it? Did you use your events page?

The Events page at www.dropbox.com/events gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes). Is that where you saw that the last activity was back in April?

Also, did you use our desktop app, in order to open and edit your Excel file?

Keep me posted!

joao cruz

Hello Megan,

Yes, that was exacly where I look. You can see in the print screen below.

Captura de ecrã 2023-08-30 102352.png

And yes, I use the dropbox lite app, that was where I first saw that the file was not like I leave it 2 weeks ago.

Megan

Thanks for clarifying @joao cruz!

In this case, it seems that your content hasn't been synced. This could have happened due to various reasons such as the file not saving properly, or the app not syncing the changes.

Were you sure the app was running as it should have?

In any case, if you can't see the upload or edits of that particular file in the events page, it seems the changes never synced to Dropbox. The best thing you can do is reach out to Microsoft, to check if there's a way to find old version in Excel files.

I'm sorry that I couldn't be more helpful.

joao cruz

Hello,

I check and the problem is not there.

Every time I create a new folder, upload a pdf the Dropbox lite app sinc with drop box.

If I change a existing excel file in the dropbox lite app, it does not save it in drop box.

So the file should be somewhere in the dropbox lite app.

Megan

Hi @joao cruz, when you say Dropbox lite app, which one are you referring to: mobile or desktop app?

Is it possible that you have two Dropbox accounts, or that your account didn't have enough space to sync the changes?

joao cruz

Hello Megan,

I mean Desktop app for microsoft surface.

I have 2 dropbox accounts but i'm only using one on the mobile and on the dropbox lite.

This account still have space left.

Hannah

Hey @joao cruz, does this only happen with Excel files? Or other types of files too?

joao cruz1

Hello Hannah,

I already made several tests and the problem is on the dropbox lite app.

If I put a new file (PDF, Excle, WOrd, Picture) on Dropbox lite, the app sinc with drop box online and it's avaliable in all devices.

If I change the name of a file, even excel, it also update.

If I open an excel file and edit it's content, if I save it, it's only avaliable on the PC where I edited.

That's the reason the last version of the file is from December 2022, the date before I format the PC and install for the first time the drop box lite app on this PC. (the last time drop box sinc with the file on the PC)

The strange thing is that the file never lost its content from december 2022 till begining of august, the period where I open and edit almost every day. Now that I did not open and edit the file for 2 weeks, the file was replaced by the last version uploaded on drop box.

Walter

Hey @joao cruz1 - sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that the the Dropbox app for Windows in S mode( Dropbox Lite) does not actively store files and folders on your device.

It allows you to access your files and folders that are stored on your Dropbox account when you’re connected to the internet, or if you chose to save them to your device for offline access. It works similarly to the other Dropbox mobile apps (even when you’re using it on a computer).

That said, it sounds like your Excel app had somehow cached this file and your changes, thus enabling you to work on it till recently.

You might be better off asking on a Microsoft (Excel) forum about this.

I hope this helps a tad.

joao cruz1

Hello Walter,

I already discuss this with Mycrosoft and what they said to my is to ask Drop Box.

I think there is a problem with the app on sincronization the changes/saves on excel files.

And now I'm between 2 forums where we try to find the guilty instead of looking to the solution of the problem.

Jay

Hi @joao cruz1, there are two possibilities here. The first is that, when using the Dropbox Lite app, you were actively syncing files, since it doesn't store a local copy of the file on your machine, so the info provided by my colleague @Walter still stands. You would need to manually upload files to your account inside that app, and you can't edit files like you would with the normal Dropbox desktop application.

Another possibility, given that there are two usernames here, @joao cruz and @joao cruz1, is that you have two Dropbox accounts, and the file could be on the other account somehow. If you own another email, I'd try accessing it on the Dropbox site to see if the file is there.

Regardless, I'd also try checking to see if there's a local backup of the Excel file, since Microsoft Office does offer local backups, if enabled in their app.

joao cruz1

Hello Jay,

The second option I already try. Yes it's true that I have 2 accounts but the 2nd one I rarely enter on it and there is no document there.

Looks like is the first option, the drop box lite app does not allow to edit files inside it. So in that case were was the file save every day since the begining of the year? It should have been lost the information on the first time I enter after the first edit.

Jay

It depends on how you opened the Excel file to begin with. You could have downloaded a temporary copy and edited it, and it remained in the temporary file location on your machine, which gets cleared out at varying times. Each time you opened the file, it opened in the temporary location, not the Dropbox app or site, and it was being saved there.

Try manually opening Excel, and look in the Recent files list, and see if you can find the file there somehow. If it was temporary, it should have a weird name or location.

joao cruz1

When I try manually open Excel and look for the recent files, the mentioned file and all the excel files in drop box are not mentioned there.

joao cruz1

Hello Megan,

That was exacly the place were I look it. In attach you see a picture that I take today. On last 29-08-2023, the last activuty was back in april.

And yes, I use the desktop app to open and edit files. When I save the files the sincronization with dropbox is not done.

Jay

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, since there is no activity on the events page since April, this means that the file wasn't syncing to Dropbox.

Given this information, it wouldn't be possible to recover the file from Dropbox itself.

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

joao cruz1

Hello,,

This is a big BUG from Dropbox, I lost all my info and probably I will not be the only one.

I just cannot understand how was possible for me to see the file been saved and updated since the bigining of the year, and one day everything is gone.