Cannot restore deleted files

[OGuyDave]

Mac. I just used markup to modify a file that's on DB, and now I'd like to revert back to before the markup. I've gone to the "Version history" screen, but I can't figure out how to restore the previous version. There's no button or link to press on the previous version(s). See screenshot.

[groundhog]

Hello,

I've never myself needed to use this feature, so out of curiosity I had a look at how it looks within my documents. As I hover the mouse over the previous versions, a Restore option appears, see screenshot. Does it happen for you? I am using PC, but that shouldn't be so different on a Mac.

[OGuyDave]

Thanks for the quick response.

Re: hovering, I get something different.

(I tried to add a screenshot to this reply, but got "An Unexpected Error has occurred." twice.)

So, what I get when I hover over the first previous version is "Dave Darrah moved the file from /EvergladesTramLeader.jpg to /Photos/EvergladesTramLeader.jpg,"

[groundhog]

Okay, I tried to get a situation similar to your case. I moved a .jpg image from one folder to another and checked the version history. It did not give me a restore option upon hovering, only the statement that the image was moved by user.

Then I renamed the file. Again, it apperared in the history, but without the option of restoring.

Finally I opened the file with a photo editor, made a minor change to it and saved (same name). This changed apperared in the version history, this time WITH and option to restore previous version available upon hovering.

So it appears that moving and renaming is not viewed as a change, but editing a photo or a document is. Hopefully someone with a better insight into how dropbox actually behaves can give you a better answer.

[OGuyDave]

I can see that editing a photo is a change. But I should be able to revert to the photo as it was before I made the change -- I just made the change this morning. Surely DropBox knows about the previous version, right?

Thanks for your contributions, groundhog. Hopefully, someone else can help.

[Mark · Accepted solution]

Hi @OGuyDave and @groundhog I can tell you exactly what the issue is here. There is no file to recover it to because the file before your edit is over 120 days ago (assuming you are a paying user).

You can ONLY recover and restore files that were previously edited to within 30 days for free users, or 120 for paid. So, if that files had been edited on 20th November and previously on 1st November you'd be able to do it. 

[OGuyDave]

Mark:

Thanks for the clear explanation. My misconception, maybe shared by many users, was that the current file (before editing) was saved to Dropbox and would be available.

I see now that Dropbox only saves that current file for 30 (or 120) days, then deletes it, as the file exists on all of the user's devices.

Armed with this valuable information, I plugged in my TimeMachine backup (Mac), and checked to see if older versions of the file reside there. I was happy to see they were, and I restored the original file from there.

Thanks again for your response.

OGuyDave

[techskilljo]

i have my free account and I deleted my files two months ago can I recover it. I can pay if needed or update my account to a distinguished but I want to recover all of them are almost 10 files and do not exceed 600 mb .

thank you.

[Imranaslam55]

Any help ?

[Daphne]

Hey there @Imranaslam55,

I'd be more than happy to help with any issues you're having! However, as I'm not sure of your situation I'll need some more info from you such as:

• Do you need to restore deleted files or a previous version of a file?
• Are you having trouble with restoring files?
• Are you receiving any error messages? If so, please send a screenshot of the error and let me know the steps you're taking.

Any info relevant to your issue will be helpful.

Let me know - thanks!