Will an upgrade from basic Dropbox to Dropbox Plus allow me to access to old versions of a file

[islandnomads]

I have had Basic for years.   I have never had any problems until today when I discovered I could no longer access this file and that every single change I made to an important file are completely missing since July 2023.  I have accessed and modified this file every single week for a year and a half and now, suddenly, I haven't got any of these modifications for the past 3 months+.

This is an inopportune time to discover that Basic might not have been enough.  So my question is, if I upgrade to the next tier of Dropbox (Dropbox Plus?), will I be able to access the modifications I have made or do they simply not exist because I have had the lesser plan all these years?

And an adjunct question, where the heck is my current file?

[Rich · Accepted solution]

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@islandnomads wrote:

So my question is, if I upgrade to the next tier of Dropbox (Dropbox Plus?), will I be able to access the modifications I have made ...

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The recovery period for Basic is 30 days. Upgrading to a higher plan doesn't extend the recovery period for files that are already deleted. It only applies to files deleted or modified after the upgrade.

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I have never had any problems until today when I discovered I could no longer access this file and that every single change I made to an important file are completely missing since July 2023.

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Any activity for a file will be listed on the Events page. If Dropbox doesn't have any changes listed for a file, then the file was likely not syncing to Dropbox.

[islandnomads]

Thank you Rich, for getting back to me so quickly.  The last entry on my events page was July.  So I understand, from what you're saying, that my Dropbox had not synced this file for months.  What I don't understand is how that's possible when I have been opening, saving and reopening saving every week for months.  When I access the same file from Dropbox, edit it then save it then reopen it again and again for updating and saving, how is it possible that it wasn't syncing?

[Mark]

Hi @islandnomads 

Is Dropbox running when you hover your mouse over its icon? What does it say if it is? 

Are you editing and opening the file inside of Dropbox and not another location?

[islandnomads]

I access Dropbox via Locations on my mac finder so I'm not sure.  Am I doing it wrong?

[Mark]

No thats the right way to the folder, but, doesn't mean Dropbox is running. 

There should be a Dropbox icon at the top of the screen near the clock. If there isn't its not running. So there is no syncing. Rerun it from Applications folder or via www.dropbox.com/downloading

[islandnomads]

OK.  That icon looks familiar so I'm guessing I did something stupid in July to eradicate it from the menu bar. WOW.  Lesson learned.  Ouch.  Thanks so much for the help.  I still don't understand, however, how I could've been faithfully updating that file for months without it syncing?

[Mark]

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@islandnomads wrote:

I still don't understand, however, how I could've been faithfully updating that file for months without it syncing?

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Because if Dropbox isnt running - i.e. in the menu bar at the top, then there is no syncing. Dropbox isn't able to upload and download without the application running. 

You are simply opening and working on files in a folder on your machine like any other folder. The Dropbox application then works on that folder to up and download to cloud.