The entirety of my "Documents" folder on my macOS device is gone

Oops, in the post I meant *macOS, not iOS

Hi there jv168 - sorry to hear about this and thanks for taking the time to let us know the details of your problem.

I'm afraid there's no way to restore the files that were stored in a deleted Dropbox account or the account itself at this time. Since you saw the files briefly on your device when you opened the Dropbox desktop app I'd suggest taking a look locally on your computer. 

While we're at it, did you get the chance to check which Dropbox account was connected in the Dropbox desktop app at the time you notice the files were missing?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

I appreciate the response, Walter. What makes me wonder if there's a way to recover them is the fact that I had access to these files for 4+ months after the account deactivation. Everything worked normally up until yesterday. I've taken a look locally on my computer + the computer's trash and it seems like the entire Documents folder simply does not exist anymore.

I do know which Dropbox account was connected; is there a way I can share that with you (or the support team) privately? 

Thanks.

Hey jv168, sorry to hear about your files; I hope it's okay for me to jump in here too.

Firstly, I wanted to also mention that if the account itself was deleted, there's no way to restore the files through the account, unfortunately.

If you search for the Documents folder or for individual files that were in it within Finder, what do you see?

Also, is the Dropbox app still installed on that computer? And are you able to access the app's preferences, specifically the "account" tab, to see if the app is still linked to an account?

Hey Hannah, thanks for providing some suggestions.

Searching for the Documents folder in Finder unfortunately yields nothing.

The Dropbox app is still installed, but I am logged out and it is not linked to an account.

Even though the account was deleted in May, I was still able to access all my files normally up until yesterday though. So that makes me wonder if it may be a separate issue that caused all my files to disappear.

Hi from me too, jv168! This is quite a peculiar incident indeed, so it may be better to check this with our support team directly. 

I can see you already have a ticket with them, so I’ve also added an internal note on your behalf. Please keep an eye out for their reply in the same email thread.

Hey Nancy, thanks for bumping the ticket! 

I received their response. Since it was a Dropbox Business account, the most likely possibility is that my previous employer did a remote wipe of my entire Documents folder when I left the company. Apparently when the device comes online and syncs with Dropbox, the entirety of your files get wiped. That probably explained why I had all my files up until the point I accidentally opened the Dropbox app. 

I guess it didn't matter that I had only synced one specific folder with Dropbox; everything including the most parent folder gets deleted. :/ I'm pretty devastated and unhappy about this, but at least now I know what the problem is and that there's unfortunately no solution.

Appreciate all of y'all for the responses and support.

Thanks for taking the time to post an update for us here, jv168.

I'm really sad to hear about this outcome and really sorry that your files are lost.

If you have any other issues or questions, please don't hesitate to let us know.