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Recovery of old files dropped in dropbox after running out of dropbox space
If I ran out of space in my dropbox, can I recover files stored in dropbox after I ran out of space if I buy extra dropbox space?
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I just posted a question and got this reply from the community: "Dropbox doesn't delete your files when you run out of space. It just stops syncing until you have space available." I just bought more dropbox space but when I open the Word files that I put in dropbox after I had run out of space (but before I bought more space) I don't see anything (the Word files are blank). Does that mean that syncing is not automatic after I buy the extra space? How do I see my files?
I kept on saving files in my dropbox folders even after I ran out of space. I was never alerted that it wasn't possible. My computer died (will send out to professionals to recover the files if possible). After it died before I added more space to my dropbox, I could see the Word files in my dropbox (with the file name given them when I saved them) but when I opened them, the Word files opened up as blank Word files. Based on the question I posited, and that the community answered (saying that the files are not deleted just not in sync), I bought more space believing that doing so would result in being able to see text in those files, but it still looks the same. Is there something I need to do sync these files or is that supposed to happen automatically? The only reason I bought more space was to be able to see these files. Any guidanace is much appreciated.
- Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
While the files would technically remain in the Dropbox folder, they wouldn't sync to the site at all.
The files should still have all their data in it, since the Dropbox folder is just a normal folder. If the files are blank, then something else caused the files to become empty.
They are not going to sync to the sight at all? What is meant by sync? I thought syncing is necessary to view the file. I wish there was a Dropbox phone number or some other way to more directly interact, since the Chatbot doesn't understand.
- Jay
Currently, we only provide incoming phone support for team admins of Dropbox Business subscriptions.
If the account is overquota, then syncing will stop on the app. If you recently upgraded and thus have enough quota, then any files will sync to and from the site. If the files were already blank on the site, then it means that the original files on the computer were blank as well.
Regarding "If the account is overquota, then syncing will stop on the app. If you recently upgraded and thus have enough quota, then any files will sync to and from the site. If the files were already blank on the site, then it means that the original files on the computer were blank as well." The files that I had were not originally blank. The question I have is the following: If I had files (good files that were not blank as was my case before my computer dies) saved in my dropbox after it was overquota (at least on my screen it showed it in my dropbox), will syncing resume for those files to see them? It sounds like you are saying it would; however, these files now that I paid for more dropbox space are still not showing content even though they originally did. The file names show up but with zero content. Does that mean that they never were in the dropbox even though my screen showed them to be there (maybe it was saving to my hard drive after I ran out of dropbox space even though on my screen it was saying that it was in my dropbox)?
- Mark
Super User II
jgale wrote:
The file names show up but with zero content. Does that mean that they never were in the dropbox even though my screen showed them to be there (maybe it was saving to my hard drive after I ran out of dropbox space even though on my screen it was saying that it was in my dropbox)?
Hi jgale
Yes it is exactly that. Dropbox is a folder on your computer like any other. So you can save to it as much as you want but if you don't have quota it wont upload to Dropbox. So the empty files must have been small enough to sync, or, sync'd before you ran out of quota. However, after you then ran out of quota and it stopped syncing it wont have uploaded any changes to the files (i.e. the edits you made)
