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I deleted the Dropbox folder off my laptop, and now loads of files are gone

I was unaware that my laptop was set up to file sync with Dropbox, which had automatically set itself up to house my Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders.

I didn't actively use Dropbox, and didn't have the app download on my laptop, so when I deleted a folder on my laptop that was called Dropbox and said "No data", I thought that would be fine.

Since, I've lost access to my Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, and none of the data that was within these folders can be found in the Dropbox trash when I log in online.

Completely baffled, and pretty heartbroken to have lost years worth of music that I'd made.

I back up my laptop, but since it was all stored in a file sync, even if I go back using the Time Machine, there is no data to restore.

It seems it all relied on this Dropbox sync, which seems to be empty.

Any ideas on what I can do? Absolutely gutted.

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Comments

Walter

Hi @usernameisella - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please have a look at your events page and your backups page and let me know if you're able to find your missing files there?

Also, did you take a look at your computer's trash can at all?

Let us know more information and we'll take it from there.

Rich

usernameisella wrote:
I ... didn't have the app download on my laptop ... and none of the data that was within these folders can be found in the Dropbox trash when I log in online.

That would be why you don't see the files in your account online.

It sounds like at one point you were prompted to backup your Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders to Dropbox and you said yes. Doing so MOVED those folders into your local Dropbox folder so they could sync to your account online.

If you removed the Dropbox application from your laptop without first disabling that backup and restoring the folders to their original location, the folders would still be located in your local Dropbox folder. They would continue to be accessible, but they would no longer be able to sync to your account online because the app was removed. Basically, Dropbox stopped backing them up when the app was removed.

Now when the Dropbox folder is deleted, those folders would be deleted as well. You may still see an old version of those folders in your account, or perhaps on the Backups page as Walter suggested, but any changes made within those folders after the app was removed would not be recoverable by Dropbox.