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Separating Teams and Personal/Paid Accounts
I recently upgraded my personal/paid account to a Teams account to collaborate with some contract workers. After the upgrade, my personal files automatically fell under the umbrella of the overall Teams account. Which is weird - but fine.
One of my collaborators, who also had a personal/paid account, joined the Team and now their account is now also under the umbrella of my Teams account. This is making them uncomfortable as they have their own business and personal files are within their Dropbox. If I were to be abducted by aliens and my Teams account go unpaid - how would they get their files or regain control of their content?
They should not feel somehow stuck with me as I'm not their primary employer - I'm just trying to make it easy to collaborate on work.
Should I recommend that they start a new Dropbox account under a different email to completely separate our files? What happens to their personal files (that are under my Teams umbrella) if I delete them from the Team?
Is there a better solution for collaborating than having them be a Teams member? Should I delete them from the Team so they can reactivate their personal account and just share folders?
One of my collaborators, who also had a personal/paid account, joined the Team and now their account is now also under the umbrella of my Teams account.
The thing to remember when accepting an invitation to join a team is that doing so will merge the personal account into the team account, making the team the new owner of the account. If it had a paid subscription previously, the account owner receives a prorated refund for the time remaining on their subscription. Basically, their personal account isn't theirs anymore.
In order to leave a team and keep the account intact, the team admin needs to convert it back to an individual account. It's important that you don't just remove the account as doing so would deleted it, and you would only have seven days to restore the account. You must convert the account back to an individual account.
Once converted, if the original account owner wants to continue with a paid subscription, they will need to resubscribe to a plan of their choosing.
Is there a better solution for collaborating than having them be a Teams member?
If they don't need to be a member of your team, you can just invite them to a shared folder.
Should I delete them from the Team so they can reactivate their personal account and just share folders?
NO! Deleting them from the team will delete the account. You must convert the account as described above.
- Rich
Super User II
One of my collaborators, who also had a personal/paid account, joined the Team and now their account is now also under the umbrella of my Teams account.
The thing to remember when accepting an invitation to join a team is that doing so will merge the personal account into the team account, making the team the new owner of the account. If it had a paid subscription previously, the account owner receives a prorated refund for the time remaining on their subscription. Basically, their personal account isn't theirs anymore.
In order to leave a team and keep the account intact, the team admin needs to convert it back to an individual account. It's important that you don't just remove the account as doing so would deleted it, and you would only have seven days to restore the account. You must convert the account back to an individual account.
Once converted, if the original account owner wants to continue with a paid subscription, they will need to resubscribe to a plan of their choosing.
Is there a better solution for collaborating than having them be a Teams member?
If they don't need to be a member of your team, you can just invite them to a shared folder.
Should I delete them from the Team so they can reactivate their personal account and just share folders?
NO! Deleting them from the team will delete the account. You must convert the account as described above.
Thanks for the links. But - you're careful to say "don't delete them" but the first step in the instructions is "delete member". I'm sweating over here.
And also - the instructions specify clicking on a gear icon next to their name. I don't see a gear. Maybe because I'm on a Mac? Does it mean click on the ... ?
Hi Walter,
Thank you for assisting. Yes, I was following those instructions. Specifically:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
- Click the Members tab.
- Click the gear icon next to the name of the person you want to remove.
- Select Delete member.
- Click Convert to individual Dropbox Basic account instead.
- Click Convert account.
When I go into the Admin console, then click the members tab - the attached screenshot shows what I see. There is no gear next to the member name as described. If I use the ellipses I get the dropdown that says "delete" - not "delete member". So, I'm being hyper-careful so that I don't inadvertently delete my friend's data.
- Rich
But - you're careful to say "don't delete them" but the first step in the instructions is "delete member". I'm sweating over here.
I guess the steps or phrasing changed at some point. You'll get the option to convert the account after clicking on Delete Member. Point is, when you get to that choice, make sure you're picking the option to convert. back to an individual account.
