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zak982's avatar
zak982
New member | Level 2
18 days ago

Files being deleted on inactive paid accounts.

I chose Dropbox years ago partly because their marketing and terms at the time strongly implied that paid accounts would keep files indefinitely as long as the subscription was active. Recently, however, they began deleting inactive accounts’ files—even paid ones—after a certain period of inactivity, with a policy that apparently changed after I signed up.

Whatever the fine print says now, this felt like a bait-and-switch to me and cost me data I thought was safe. My takeaway: never fully trust Dropbox they are liars.

2 Replies

  • Emmet's avatar
    Emmet
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    17 days ago

    Hi Zak,

    I understand your frustration and would like to assist you as best I can. Dropbox does not delete data from any paid accounts. Basic accounts that are inactive or over their quota limits may receive notice via email that their account or data is subject to deletion. If you have received one of these emails, you can find out more in this Help Center article. This doesn’t apply to all users, only basic users who have received the inactivity email.

    Files can be recovered for up to 30 days after deletion by upgrading to a plan with additional storage. You can find out more information about a basic account exceeding it’s storage in this article. I hope this helps clarify and if you’ve any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out.

    Emmet

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    17 days ago
    zak982 wrote:

    Recently, however, they began deleting inactive accounts’ files—even paid ones—after a certain period of inactivity, with a policy that apparently changed after I signed up.

    The policy hasn't changed. Dropbox doesn't delete files from inactive paid accounts. Have you looked at your Events page for information regarding the deletion?

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