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AN79's avatar
AN79
New member | Level 2
5 months ago
Solved

Lots of files disappeared from my account - how can I get them back?

Hi, I have been using dropbox for many years and have many word files which I keep editing online. I noticed that many files had disappeared from different folders with some of them I surely used 2 w...
  • Neal's avatar
    5 months ago

    Hi AN79​,

    Let's jump right in and see if we can troubleshoot this for you. Can you try the following steps for me:

    • Double-check the following
      • Sign out and back in; confirm the email shown under your avatar is the one you usually use.
      • In the search bar, type a distinctive word from the file name (or even “.docx”) to surface anything that was moved.
    • Deleted files (30-day window on Basic)
      • Go to dropbox.com → Deleted files in the left sidebar.
      • Change the filter from the default 24 hours to Last 30 days.
      • Tick what you need and click Restore.
      • Inside any folder you can also open the menu → Show deleted files; grayed-out items can be restored the same way.
    • Events log
      • Visit dropbox.com/events (or append /events to the URL).
      • Scroll back to the day you last remember using the docs.
      • If you spot a bulk delete or move, click the ► arrow and choose Restore.
      • If the event lists an unfamiliar device or location, change your password and enable two-factor authentication right away.
    • Version history for a single file
      • If the file name still exists but its content is wrong or empty, hover over it and click Version history.
      • Pick a timestamp from before things went wrong and click Restore.
      • Basic accounts keep 30 days of versions.
    • Desktop cache (only if you run the Dropbox app)
      • Recent edits often linger here for a few days even after deletion:
        • Windows: C:\Users\<your-name>\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache\
        • macOS: ~/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache/
      • Copy anything you want out of that folder before it’s purged.
    • If the folder is shared
      • Only the folder’s owner can restore permanently deleted items, so ask them to run these same steps in their account.

    Let me know how you get on with these steps.

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