Child Item

Why is my account deleted and I created a new one?

I have just tried to log into my account which I've had for almost 10 years and it says 'create account'.

I proceeded and what I am seeing is a brand new account under the email that I've been using for this past decade - a completely empty dropbox.

I am freaking out, and cant understand how this has happened.

A company I was collaborating with added me to their team for a project we were working on together and I think they recently removed me from their team, but can this have caused my entire career's worth of file to be deleted? Please someone help, I'm not sure what to do and whether these files can ever be recovered.

Find more posts tagged with

Offboarding

Team Member

Comments

Jay

Hi @kaybeeirl, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

It sounds like the team admin deleted your account from the team, which would delete all files.

Could you ask them to recover your account and then convert it to a personal plan away from the team?

Keep me updated with any progress!

kaybeeirl

Hi Jay

Thanks so much for this message - I've contacted the admin from the company, hopefully this works out.

Rich

@kaybeeirl wrote:
I've contacted the admin from the company, hopefully this works out.

Stay on them about it. They only have seven days to restore the account before it will be unrecoverable.

kaybeeirl

She says she can see my files on her end so even if they just share them all with me that will be good for me.

Maybe it is something that dropbox can look into - making it a two person step for deleting a whole account? Especially if the account was created 10+ years before the team was joined. Will suggest it (once I get my work back)

Rich

@kaybeeirl wrote:
Maybe it is something that dropbox can look into - making it a two person step for deleting a whole account?

The issue there is that once you agree to merge your account into a Business team account, you no longer own the account; the business does. It's because of this that they're able to delete an account without the user's approval. They own the account and pay for the license that the account is using.

kaybeeirl

Ok guys, great news! I got all my files back. I was recovered, readded to the team and all my personal files transferred back to me.

Now I just need to know how to safely leave the team while keeping my personal account and all my files so this doesn't happen again.

Jay

To leave the team with all your files in your account, you'll need to ask the admin to convert your account, which will remove you from the team and make your account a personal account.

kaybeeirl

Thanks for your help Jay. Out of curiosity, will this remove access for the team to view my files? Because for the past days all my private files have been transferred to them, so they have had access to my confidential work and personal information. So if the account is converted will they be removed from having access to these documents?

Jay

There isn't a guarantee to know if the files have been transferred or accessed by any other member or admin of the team, unless they tell you.

Some Dropbox Business teams allow the admin to sign in as the user and view the files on that member's account.