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imrandall's avatar
imrandall
New member | Level 2
2 days ago

My recently edited Microsoft Excel files are suddenly missing.

Device
Mac mini, Macbook air
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
OSX tahoe
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
not sure

Question or Issue
two commonly-edited (except not the past 30d) excel files are suddenly missing.

They were not deleted and were present on multiple machines/devices as recently as early January. The only thing I changed was how I log in to Office 365 (changed from corporate license to university license). I haven't got it backed up in one place so am at a loss re how to recover them.

7 Replies

  • robert002's avatar
    robert002
    New member | Level 2
    2 days ago

    Most likely the files are tied to your old Office 365 account. Check OneDrive/SharePoint under the corporate login—they may still be there. If not, try Office’s version history or AutoRecover folders on each device. Moving forward, back up important files in a single location to avoid account-linked issues.

  • imrandall's avatar
    imrandall
    New member | Level 2
    1 day ago

    Thanks for your reply
    The dropbox logon didn’t change - it’s a personal account. 
    The changed login was on Office. Again, not sure if this is related. 
    The only files I detect are missing are recently edited excel files saved in Dropbox, but I haven’t done that much of a search yet. Maybe it’s a Microsoft thing?

  • imrandall's avatar
    imrandall
    New member | Level 2
    12 hours ago

    Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately not successful. The file is there but "cannot be found." I had kept these files in dropbox as a "single location to avoid account-linked issues" (the dropbox account is mine) but will have to reevaluate the entire premise of dropbox, after 15 years of continuous and faithful use (acknowledging this might be an MS issue).

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    10 hours ago

    imrandall, sorry for jumping in, but can you clarify what you mean when saying that the file is there, but it can’t be found? 

    If you use the search bar on www.dropbox.com, can you see the files that you’re missing?

    Any relevant screenshots you can send over are also welcome and appreciated. 

  • imrandall's avatar
    imrandall
    New member | Level 2
    8 hours ago

    Sorry should have been clearer - when I look for the files as previously-opened files within excel they can be seen, but cannot be found at the location when I try to open them. Indeed they are no longer present in Finder or online.

    When I try to search for any of the files in dropbox online they are no longer present (nothing found)

  • imrandall's avatar
    imrandall
    New member | Level 2
    7 hours ago

    I was able to find this in "events" but can't seem to restore these files (they are not in deleted files - perhaps because >30d?)

    what I'm learning is that logging out of onedrive (corporate) may have done this

     

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