Can team members gain acces to my personal account if they upgrade to Dropbox Business?

[Matthew2]

I'm try to figure out who can access what when using dropbox teams.

I found some info at https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/218 but it's not clear who may be able to gain access to your data when you join a dropbox team.

In one paragraph it states:

"If you're a team member, and you have connected your personal and work Dropbox accounts, "sign in as user" will not allow team admins to access your personal account in any way. Only your Business account is accessible to admins."

but at the end of the article it states:

"If you join a free team you retain full control of your account. However, if any member of your team upgrades to Dropbox Business, they will then have access to—and control of—the accounts of anyone else on the team."

The fist statement is reasonably clear but the last statement is not clear exactly what people would have access to and control if they upgrade to Dropbox Business.  It implies that you have control of your account UNTIL one of your team members upgrades to Dropbox Business.

BTW, I have Dropbox Pro and not Business

[JohnDropbox · Accepted solution]

Hi Matthew,

If you start using Dropbox Business, nobody will be able to view the data or files in your personal account. 

In relation to the second statement, if you decide to use a free team before upgrading to Dropbox Business, you will share "Team Folders" where all of the contents are shared with the members of the team.

I would recommend reading this article which explains how the free teams feature works:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/9124

[William T.17]

This doesn't answer the question -- when you are asked to sign up for the team it says:

"Join TEAM with my current account

I understand that the admins of TEAM can upgrade my team to Dropbox Business which will give them access to and control over my work Dropbox.

OR

Keep my current account personal

Only you will have access to and control over your files."

Again, this strongly suggests that a free team, if the admin upgrades to Dropbox Business, gives them access to "my work Dropbox" -- whatever that means.

Does "work Dropbox" mean the shared team files?

[William T.17]

other users have suggested that an upgrade to DropBox Business by any team member will give access to all files, even your personal files:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/213304066-Can-members-of-a-free-team-see-my-pe...

are you saying that access it is limited to your files within the team folder?

[Richard P.]

See my answer in the other thread - the Business upgrade gives the Business admin access to everything.

[William T.17]

Yikes!  That's crazy.  Thanks for the clarity -- it seems like Dropbox is sort of hiding the ball on this possibility.

[Richard P.]

How can they be "hiding the ball" when they explicitly warn you of that possibility when you accept the invite?!

[William T.17]

well, they say signing up "will not allow team admins to access your personal account in any way. Only your Business account is accessible to admins."  But they fail to say (as I understand it) - if you join a free team and you do not have a business account so you seem to be safe from this happening, leaving out the scenario that someone upgrades and your personal account now gets sucked into something that the new team admin can see.  That is a bit different from "not allow team admins to access your personal account in any way" because what they mean is (I guess) is "not allow team admins to access your personal account in any way, except for the following very likely way -- if someone upgrades to Dropbox Business, and then your personal account is accessible"

That is a pretty big exception.

I don't use dropbox a lot (so I appreciate your insights), but for me, I have a free account that I use to send files to my family and such, and I have a volunteer board that I serve on trying to set up a "team" so the board members can collaborate -- but it seems like I cannot safety sign up for the team without potentially losing my personal account's privacy.  

Unless I am missing something.

[Dr_MMM]

Hi John,

I just want to keep using Dropbox the way I have for years, which is to save all my personal files in folders in the Dropbox as well as collaborate with others using specific folders. Now I am being invited to join a team and I get the warning that if someone upgrades to "Business" they can access all my files. 

Trying to address this is a completely unwanted activity for me that does not add any value.

How can I get back to being productive together with others without jeopardizing the security and privacy of my data?

Do I have to decline the team invitation?

This just makes me want to remove all my personal data from Dropbox...

Thanks in advance. 

Best

Magnus.

[Dr_MMM]

Exactly, William -- well summarized. I am deeply concerned that accepting a team invitations can result in someone at any point in time might decide to make a change that gives them access to all of my data without me having a say in it.