My folders are intact but there isn't any deletion history

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out because all of my files have suddenly disappeared, and I urgently need to recover them.

I was on a Dropbox Plus plan 5 years ago, but didn't renew. I logged in today and found all my files gone. Oddly, the folder structure remains, but there are no deletion records in my event history or deleted files section.

These files contain irreplaceable memories and critical data. Has anyone faced this, or know how I can contact support to get them back?

Thanks for any help!

Jay · Answer

Hi @Ting_TAN, thanks for messaging the Community.

As @Mark stated, if your account has been downgraded, and your Dropbox Basic account is over quota, then files would be deleted from the account as per this article.

Are there any files in the deleted files page on your Dropbox account?

This will help me to assist further!

Mark · Answer

I was on a Dropbox Plus plan 5 years ago, but didn't renew.

This is almost certainly your issue. If you are over quota Dropbox removes data to bring you back down under quota. They send multiple emails out to say this is going to happen. As you can see the structure then this is what happened - because folders dont take up quota they wont be removed.

When this happens you have 30 days to recover the files. If you don't see it in Deleted Items or at www.dropbox.com/events, this means the deletion occurred over 180 days ago, which is the maximum time that lists are populated for. After the 30 days unfortunately they arent recoverable.