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My account has been converted to a new account with nothing in it

My windows computer did an update and restarted last Friday and at that time dropbox was asking me to sign in. When I signed in all my files are gone. It is like a new account. I had just synced a file on Thursday and now it is gone. How do I get this file back. I desperately need it. I thought maybe I had used the wrong email but the other email that I would have used doesn't seem to be an account with dropbox. So I have the correct email address for the account. I can't seem to get any help from dropbox. This is unbelievable!

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Accepted answers

janejanejo

I went back and looked at Events and I can only see these entries now. Although I swear I saw a account created line as well before. Anyways, I kept looking on my computer and I eventually found two directories under c:\Users\Janes-Laptop. One was Dropbox and Dropbox (old). Both with the August 10th datestamp. There was nothing in the Dropbox directory but all my files where in the Dropbox (old) directory. Thank God! So for some reason when windows did the update and rebooted and then I had to log into Dropbox again, it created a new dropbox directory instead of using the current directory. I am just glad that I found my files. Maybe this will be useful for others.

DU The computer Jane-Laptop was linked to your account	10/8/2024 9:44 AM
JJ You added the app Dropbox	10/8/2024 9:44 AM

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Rich

@janejanejo wrote:
... dropbox was asking me to sign in. When I signed in all my files are gone. It is like a new account.

Look at your Events page. If you don't see any activity, then you're signed in to a new, empty account, and you likely have another account under a different email address. If that's the case, look through your emails for messages from Dropbox and you'll likely find the correct account.

janejanejo

I actually have an email on July 2, 2024 saying that there was a new sign in on a different browser. This is to the same email address that I am currently signed in to dropbox with. In the events tab it only shows a new account being created on August 10th which was after my windows update and dropbox wanted me to sign in again. I am using the same email address.

Jay

Hi @janejanejo, could you clarify what you mean by the message in the events tab, since there shouldn't be one that states that an account was created.

Could you attach a screenshot showing what you're seeing, while hiding any email addresses?

janejanejo

DU The computer Jane-Laptop was linked to your account	10/8/2024 9:44 AM
JJ You added the app Dropbox	10/8/2024 9:44 AM

ciasniper

i have a similar problem now: I have an dropbox for years, and i used an gmail account for it.

I forgot the password, because i have it installed as an app on my computer. When i wanted to log in to another device, i used the google sign-in this time, since i didnt remember my password. Now suddenly i cant access my data at all, on all of my devices, it looks like i have a new account completely.....

is there a way that i can talk to a dropbox technical support that can get my old account again activated?

Jay

Hi @ciasniper, I’d recommend getting in contact with our support team directly to look into this matter in more detail.

You can do this by opening an incognito/private browsing window, while not signed into any account, and accessing this link.
From there you should be able to contact support. Make sure to pick an email to which you can receive and send emails from.