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Phili1's avatar
Phili1
New member | Level 1
2 months ago

What are the functional restrictions of end-to-end encryption on Business Plus?

What functional limitations do I have with dropbox if I encrypt my data end-to-end (with my Business Plus subscription)? Are functions such as restoring previous versions of files still possible? Does Dropbox recognize attacks on my data despite end-to-end encryption?
Thanks for your help!!!

4 Replies

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Is this end to end that you are installing yourself or ones with Dropbox?

    If its one you use yourself what often happens is you actually find that you have 1 huge file to upload rather than, say, 1,000 because the files are encrypted into a single container. This can mean that backups and syncing take longer AND you must make sure that the full file uploads and downloads on to each device before decrypting it or you can get data loss/duplicate files. 

    • Phili1's avatar
      Phili1
      New member | Level 1

      Hi! Thanks for your reply! I'm referring to Dropbox's own E2EE, which has recently become available with the Business Plus subscription. I'm afraid that features like full-text search may no longer work. But I can't find any documentation on the exact functional limitations.

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hey Phili1! You can see more details on this here (there’s a section in the Help Center article that outlines all the limitations involved when working with encrypted team folders). 

        Let me know if I’ve misunderstood something, though.

  • apfund's avatar
    apfund
    Icon for Dropbox Product Manager rankDropbox Product Manager

    Hi Phili1 ,

    I wanted to share a few thoughts:

    You can choose which folders to encrypt, so a good approach is to assess your files and encrypt only the most sensitive ones. As mentioned above, encryption impacts certain features, such as content search on Dropbox.com and preview generation on the web.

    For files where these features are more important, you can leave them unencrypted. This way, you maintain a good balance between security and usability and functionality.