I've had a drop box subscription for a few years and at renewal, December 1st, 2022, I upgraded to DropBox Plus. Last week I had a blue-screen issue on my Desktop and took it to a repairman. He saved, documents, then (I suppose) cleared the hard drive, and then he reloaded Windows Home 10. When I got my computer back, I noticed I was missing programs - Reaper and Bluebeam. I was annoyed but not too concerned because I had purchase receipts and licenses stored in Dropbox. Then I noticed that Drop Box desktop short-cut was missing. I tried to log-in to DropBox but couldn't remember my password, so the DropBox Chat agent or bot sent me a password reset link. I used that to open DropBox, but all my files are missing. I paid a full year subscription in advance expecting secure cloud storage, but all my stored documents are gone ... very important documents for which there are no or very limited hard copies. Does anyone know how I can recover my old account? Because it looks like my password reset started a new account.

Hi Laney Lou Does events show nothing before the 2 month mark? What does www.dropbox.com/account show in terms of quota and plan - does it show you paying? That means one of two things. This account is brand new and not actually the one you are expecting to be using - especially if you are a paying user and this appears as free. It means you set up a new account 2 month ago rather than logging in to an old one. OR nothing has happened on the account for over 6 months until that 2 months - the events list only shows 6 months of data

ON4237-67 wrote: The events page shows that I "added the app" on 10/1/2024. That is the day I saved the videos to Dropbox. No activity at the events page before 10/1. Then assuming you're using the same email address to sign in, you hadn't accessed the previous account for more than a year and it was deleted/had the content removed, and by signing back in you've activated a new account. This does appear to be a brand new account. Is there any way to retrieve the "old account"? Typically, no. When an account is deleted there's no way to get the previous content back. Are you absolutely certain that you're using the same email address? Check your email (including your spam/junk) for any messages from Dropbox. They would have notified you several times before deleting the account.

Hey Lazman1140, sorry to hear that your files are missing. To create a new account with the same address you had used for your original one, the original account would have to be deleted. Is it possible that you used a different email address than the one you had used for your original, paid account? If you're not sure, you can use this page, to look up your payment info and find out the email address, to compare it with the one you used. Let me know what you find.

The folders with a down arrow dont open up my folders. Help please?

Hey Linh1, thanks for joining our Community. Can you clarify where you're having this issue? On the Dropbox website? A screenshot would be really helpful, if you can send us one. Thanks in advance!

Logged into my account and all my files are missing

80 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago
Hey Lazman1140, sorry to hear that your files are missing.

To create a new account with the same address you had used for your original one, the original account would have to be deleted.

Is it possible that you used a different email address than the one you had used for your original, paid account?

If you're not sure, you can use this page, to look up your payment info and find out the email address, to compare it with the one you used.

Let me know what you find.
Linh1
New member | Level 2
2 years ago
The folders with a down arrow dont open up my folders. Help please?
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hey Linh1, thanks for joining our Community.

Can you clarify where you're having this issue? On the Dropbox website?

A screenshot would be really helpful, if you can send us one.

Thanks in advance!
Linh1
New member | Level 2
2 years ago
Hi Hannah, I think I have solved it - I had logged in to a secondary account I had. Found my files now! Thanks #Lin
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Glad to hear that you resolved this, Lin!

If you need anything else, please let us know.

Have a great day!
CDH10
New member | Level 2
2 years ago
I created a Dropbox many years ago to store photos off my phone. I had years and years worth of photos. I just logged in to try and find one for my Goddaghter’s upcoming birthday and there are no/none/zero photos. Where did they all go? Did Dropbox delete them when they created the paid tiers? I am so sad and frustrated. Of coarse I cannot speak to a person without a paid premium account.
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hi there, CDH10, and sorry to hear that your files are missing.

How long ago was the last time that you logged in to your account and accessed your files?

Is it possible that instead of logging in, you were actually prompted to create a new account with your email address?

Also, please let me know what you see in your events page.

Thanks.
Mark
Super User II
2 years ago
CDH10 wrote:
Did Dropbox delete them when they created the paid tiers? I am so sad and frustrated.

No. They only delete after 12 months of an account not being used - but they do send multiple warnings of this happening.
Jeff231
New member | Level 2
2 years ago
I was just on Dropbox a few weeks ago. Today dropbox would not open and took me to the sign in which did not recognize my email or password. I created a new password and logged in. When I logged in it was as if I had signed up for the first time and there are no folders or files available. In the sync history I can see previous files however it will not allow me to go to the folder that the file was in.

I tried to go under deleted files to recover them and nothing is listed. It looks like a new account.

Is this a result of the recent breach? Is there an issue with dropbox compatibility with Mac's recent update?

How do I recover my files since I have a basic plan and am unable to contact support.
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hi there, Jeff231, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

If you created a new Dropbox account under that email address, it means that the Dropbox account that was previously associated with that address is deleted or disabled for some reason.

Try clicking the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar and then on the globe icon next to your initials/profile pic.

This should take you to your account on dropbox.com; what do you see there?

Let me know!