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Dropbox sends the one-time code to an old email address that's not accessible.

I am trying to help my 82 year old uncle figure out why he isn't getting the dropbox codes sent to the correct email address. I do not know what plan he has but can ask if it's necessary to know. So let me explain his situation.

He heads up our family history and has everything in Dropbox (duplicates, triplicates 😂) for the family to access. He said a few years ago it just all of a sudden starting doing the 2 factor authentication. So he let everyone know and said if you need in let me know it's you and I'll give you the authentication code. So that's what we've done. He's always logged in so it doesn't affect him. And he also is accessing it from his hard drive folder and not his phone or computer.

For the last couple of weeks I have tried to get in and when I let him know, he never receives the authentication code. We've tried half a dozen times or so with the same result...... no code is ever sent. We tried again today and this time I noticed that it said it was sending the code to an email address and not his phone like it has in the past. The email address is an old one and according to him is not the one that is listed as his address right now. He doesn't know how to access the old email as it's been many years since he used it. I don't understand why it's going to that one when that's not the one that shows for his profile (according to him when he checked his settings today).

At this point I was able to help him find the settings and he has turned off the 2 factor authentication. However, when I tried to log in it is 1. still doing the 2 factor authentication and 2. it is still going to the old email address. I did wonder if there's a connection between his old email address still being his login??

As I first said he is 82 and trying to contact support and get help is not very feasible. So I'm reaching out to see if anyone else has had this problem. I saw other posts about not getting the codes but they all seemed to be a little different than his issue.

Thank in advance!

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Mark

musclecarmama wrote:
For the last couple of weeks I have tried to get in and when I let him know, he never receives the authentication code.

Hi @musclecarmama

Firstly please note this is against the Dropbox T&C's and can result in accounts being permanently removed and all data lost. Dropbox accounts are for one person only. You should have your own account and use a Shared Folder between you all to share the data.

musclecarmama wrote:
We tried again today and this time I noticed that it said it was sending the code to an email address and not his phone like it has in the past. The email address is an old one and according to him is not the one that is listed as his address right now

So, that means its not actually the 2FA security its one to check for the above and to make sure its the right person. It can only send the email to the account he has set up at https://www.dropbox.com/account/general - he needs to update the email there. THAT is where it sends the code to.

musclecarmama wrote:
At this point I was able to help him find the settings and he has turned off the 2 factor authentication

They are not the same. They are totally separate. See here for the info on email codes.

musclecarmama

To your first point- I doubt he knows this so I will let him know. Sharing is what I thought would be best and easiest as well. It's how I do it with my dropbox and photos. But I am not seeing how to share basically the whole of what's in dropbox. There are so many folders for all the different branches of the family and years and events etc. Is there a way to make "all folders" sharable without having to share each folder individually? I followed the link you had but unless I missed it, it only addressed sharing a single folder, which I know how to do, and not all of them at once.

To your second point, he said the email address showing in the general area is the right one but that he didn't get anything. I will have him check again.

Mark

musclecarmama wrote:
Is there a way to make "all folders" sharable without having to share each folder individually?

The quickest and easiest way to do that is to just move everything in to one folder and then share that one

So move all of the root directory in to a new folder and then share

musclecarmama

I should have thought of that! Thank you!