Rewind Feature doesn't seem to work as expected.....

[NB14]

Hi ... 

I'm having issues when testing Rewind/Versioning using Windows 11 Workstation - MS Edge .. I hope the below makes sense, I've put the text in bold for the questions... Thanks in advance.

• I create a folder called Test located in the My Documents folder which is then synced by Dropbox.
• In this folder called Test I create five individual text files and allowed to sync with Dropbox.
• I then delete the folder called Test including the five Test text files and allowed Dropbox to sync.
• I then visit Dropbox.com and select My Documents "..." and use Rewind This Folder.
• Using "Rewind This Folder" I select the time before the folder and file deletions were made and restore the Test folder.
• On opening the newly restored Test folder I was expecting to see the five Test text files but the folder is empty. Does this method only restore the folder and not the files that were stored in the folder - Is this correct ?
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• I then decided to rewind the newly restored Test folder using the same procedure listed above. 
• However Rewind This Folder only allows me to restore four of the five Text files. The last file to be created/deleted can't be selected to be restored.
• I've attached a picture showing an example of not being able to select the latest "Fine Tune" action above the line... How do I select the very latest action  under "Fine Tune" using MS Edge.
  
  
  
   

[Megan]

Hey @NB14, let's jump right into this! 

Rewinding a folder, to the appropriate time before a deletion took place, should also restore the files in the folder. Is it possible that you didn't give it enough time, in order to see the files start populating online?

Another thing I can think of, is that you rewound the folder back to when it was created, and before you added the files in it. Could that be the case? 

As for the second question that you pointed out: do you see this when you try to rewind the entire folder? 

It seems that based on your screenshot you wouldn't be able to choose the last action which is the rewound of the folder, because this is the "beginning" of the folder. If you Rewind it would essentially most likely go back to remove the folder from the account, hence why it's grayed out. Does that make sense? 

Keep me posted! 

[NB14]

Hi Megan ... Thanks for the reply ....

Ok ... I've tried again to make sure .... I made a folder called "New Test" and placed five text files inside and checked it was also on Dropbox.com and as before deleted the folder "New Test" and used Rewind to restore... 

10 minutes later the folder "New Test" is still empty both at Dropbox.com and my local PC ... I would of thought by now something should of happened- pic attached. (Edited to say its now 30mins no Text files have appeared) 

As for Fine Tune have a look at the attached pic and tell me how to restore the last text file 😉

 

[Megan]

Hey @NB14, okay let's try a few things: first thing is to try the same process on a folder path outside of your Documents path. 

And while you're at it, can you also try a different browser altogether, please? 

[NB14]

Hi Megan 

Ok ... Now using Chrome and spun up a new MS Windows 11 Pro VM, the test folder is now in the Root of the Dropbox V174.4.5852 folder.  I hope I'm not coming across as pedantic. I'm just fully testing this Rewind feature as I have seen ransom software do it's worst first hand, hence I want to make sure that I have a robust roll back plan in place before migrating my files.

Kind Regards ... 🙂

I still can't get this to work correctly .... Restoring a folder (Test02) with it's contents (text Files) doesn't work for me. The folder restores fine but without the contents.

Also I have noticed after numerous tries the Fine tune feature sometimes restores a the last file/event that isn't/can't be selected. However this doesn't always work and the last file/event is sometimes missed from the restore. 

Can you get somebody to try and replicate what I'm doing to see if they get the same results? 

[Hannah]

Sorry to jump in here, @NB14, but have you tried restoring these files through the deleted files page? And if so, are they getting restored successfully?

[NB14]

Hi Hannah ... Thanks for your reply ...

Have you tried restoring these files through the deleted files page? And if so, are they getting restored successfully?

I have and yes they are getting restored successfully ... Perhaps its me but I'm not getting the rewind feature... 

• If you delete a folder(s) containing files or folders these can be restored up to 30days (on my plan) from the Deleted page/recycle bin.
  For me using the rewind feature to restore deleted files fails, but I assumed it should do the same thing as the recycle bin for up to 30 days.
  
  
• If you rename files or data becomes maliciously encrypted you should be able to use rewind to restore your data to an earlier time up to 30 days. This seems to work for me apart from the Fine Tune for me doesn't allow the last event to be restored. If the last event was to encrypt or rename your documents folder it can't be selected to be included in the restore (see previous pic showing the unselected text file). The work around for me was to create a separate new folder and allow this to sync. This then becomes the last event allowing you to select the documents folder which now has been demoted to the second event to be restored.... Not ideal.
  Perhaps I'm at fault by not fully understanding the product ..... open to feedback... kind regards 

[Walter]

Hey @NB14, sorry to jump in here, but if you're still having issues with this, we could send you an email to have a further look internally.

Let us know here if you'd like that and we'll reach out via the email address that's connected to your profile here, on the Community. 

Thanks!

[NB14]

Hi Walter ... Sorry for the delay in replying .....

I think I now fully understand the rewind feature with regards to the fine tune function. However the delete and restore using Rewind doesn't seem to work for me ... As previously mentioned in this thread I'm still not sure which tool to use Rewind or the Deleted Page link as they seem to do the same job.?

More than happy to assist by doing some more testing .... Please use the email linked to this account.

[Megan]

Hi @NB14, I just sent you an email, I'll see you there!