How to restore folder I deleted off local drive

[phelix9]

My work supervisor instructed me to install the Dropbox app on my Macbook and shared a folder with me. I was incorrectly told to make the files available for offline viewing. Two days later my SSD was filled with several hundred GBs of content from our Dropbox folder.

The files need to be set to online-only but I still want to see the files in my local Dropbox folder on my Macbook SSD. After switching the shared folder to online-only the contents still appeared in my local folder so I uninstalled Dropbox and deleted the entire folder and emptied the trash about 3 days ago. I reinstalled Dropbox but the folder on my local drive remains empty. I can still access the files on my Dropbox online and those appear unaffected.

How can I have the Dropbox app reload the contents of the folder I deleted onto my SSD again without actually downloading the files again?

I  think I want Smart Sync - though I'm confused on the difference between Smart Sync and Selective Sync (even after reading the "How to use Dropbox Smart Sync to save space" document. I just want to be able to access the files on my Macbook without them taking up hundreds of GBs of space.

[Nancy]

Thanks for posting on our forum, @phelix9.

Keep in mind that if you want to open a file and work on it, you’ll first need to make it local on your device and download its contents, in which case it’ll start taking up hard drive space from your computer once again. 

Let’s have a closer look though into your local Dropbox folder. 

First off, can you please check your device’s menu bar, and let me know if you can see a small Dropbox icon at the moment? If yes, hover over it and send me its syncing status and app version. 

Now, about the main difference between the two features; with selective sync, you can choose entire folders to be removed completely from the desktop app (these folders still remain visible on your web account). However, you can make individual files online-only, which will replace the actual file with a placeholder that’s still visible on the Dropbox app and doesn’t take up as much space. 

Hope this helps a bit! Let me know when you’ve got more updates.

[phelix9 · Accepted solution]

I was able to re-download the missing shared folder and have it set to online only. I do not see options for selective sync vs. smart sync when I right-click the folder. I think it works the way I want it to now though because it is not taking up that much space on my local SSD. I can see all the files now though, which is exactly what I needed.

This article was helpful in getting me back to where I needed to be: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/advanced-reinstall

[Randog]

I deleted a file from my drop box on 5-17-2022.  I went to the deleted files and it wasn't there. I also went to the events file, It show's that I deleted it on 5-17 but the file isn't there either. How can I recover it?

[Rich]

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@Randog wrote:

I deleted a file from my drop box on 5-17-2022.  I went to the deleted files and it wasn't there. I also went to the events file, It show's that I deleted it on 5-17 but the file isn't there either. How can I recover it?

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Unfortunately, you can't recover it using Dropbox. The deletion occurred more than 30 days ago, which is the limit for file recovery (note that upgrading now will not help).

• https://help.dropbox.com/files-folders/restore-delete/recover-older-versions

[Yuppyboy17]

I’m having trouble

[Mark]

@Yuppyboy17 we need to know why though before we can help