Forum Discussion

brats's avatar
brats
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago

I deleted the Dropbox folder but my Documents folder path is now within Dropbox. Any help?

Hi there,   I had Dropbox installed on my Mac and selected the Documents folder to be synced a few days ago. I wanted to remove the synced content and deleted the Dropbox folder from my device wh...
Computer Backup
desktop
restore
Saun's avatar
Saun
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago

I am experiencing similar issues. A few days a popup asked me if I wanted to backup the entire laptop, noting that the files will nto be moved. I clicked on yes, thinking that since the files will not actually be in the Dropbox folder, this would not affect the space limitation, but I was wrong, and soon enough I was out of space. I tried deleting the PC path folder in the dropbox, but now all the files were deleted, and I am not beign succesful in restoring the ones in the Documents folder of the PC. The ones in downloads and desktop were restored. I have since figured out the correct way to stop the full PC backup (preferencs>manage backup etc.), but I still don't have those missing files. How do I get the files from documents back?

Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
6 years ago

Thanks for your updates here!

 

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with this Saun.

 

If you haven't already, please check in your recycling bin to see if you can restore the deleted files from there. Also, I can suggest checking if they can be restored through Dropbox with these steps.

 

Please bear in mind that if the files were not able to sync to your account, then we wouldn't be able to restore them with that method.

 

Otherwise, you can look into using a third party app to help restore those files back to your device. While I can't recommend any specific ones, you can do a quick web search for more info on this.

 

I hope this helps!

  • RRKKY's avatar
    RRKKY
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    **bleep** IT!!   Same situation here!   I deleted and turned off dropbox locally and now no Documents or Desktop, completely gone from my MAC!  And I had emptied the trash bin.   I see the backup in my Dropbox account but when I download the zipped file I get an error trying to open it.  

    • Jay's avatar
      Jay
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      5 years ago
      Hi RRKKY, if you get an error when opening the zip file, it could mean that it was corrupt because it didn't download completely. 

      Since you've uninstalled the app, and also emptied the trash, could you try downloading the files from the site in smaller batches and let me know how it goes?
      • RRKKY's avatar
        RRKKY
        New member | Level 2
        5 years ago

        That is exactly what I am doing, unfortunately, this is going to take my DAYS if not WEEKS.   Should I send Dropbox a bill at my hourly rate for this headache?

         

        Best part is, I did not have SYNC even checked to begin with.    

  • corduroyds's avatar
    corduroyds
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    I was unaware that dropbox would create a folder that encompassed all the folders on my device that were shared to dropbox. In hindsight it's my bad for deleting the folder, but I was of the impression that it was just some leftover folder from when I uninstalled the app. Now I've lost all my digital art from the past year or so. Had I known that dropbox was actually moving my folders I would have never deleted it. Needless to say, I'm a little upset. If I got anything wrong here, I would love to know, because I'm currently assessing my options as to how I can recover my art.

    • Jocke_Larsson's avatar
      Jocke_Larsson
      Explorer | Level 3
      5 years ago

      I have similar problem but I haven't deleted the dropbox folder yet. I want to remove dropbox from my computer and then delete my dropbox folder. But the Dropbox installation has comprimised my local folders. Downloads and Desktop is not working unless I store everything in my dropbox folder.

       

      I run this on Windows 10 and when I use command prompt to look in the "C:\Users\Jola" section it says the following:

      <JUNCTION> Desktop [\??\C:\Users\jola\Dropbox\Min PC (Tomal-164-JOLA)\Desktop]

      <JUNCTION> Downloads [\??\C:\Users\jola\Dropbox\Min PC (Tomal-164-JOLA)\Downloads]

       

      I have tried many times to remove automatic backup but Dropbox won't restore my computer to the stage before the installation.

      How do I get rid of dropbox from my computer. This is my computer from work so I don't want it installed.

       

      If I simply uninstall the program the Junction is still there. I have tried to search for help on the internet to remove Junctions with no result.

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
        5 years ago

        Hey there Jocke_Larsson, sorry to hear about this and thanks for joining the discussion here.

         

        Can you please confirm that you followed these steps to disable the computer backup feature?

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