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mrswilliam's avatar
mrswilliam
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago

Old versions of Documents replacing new versions

I have two laptops, Windows 8.1 (my main device) and Windows 10 which I rarely use.  8.1 had to go into a repair shop so i set about setting up dropbox on W10 with dropbox. It had some old files on i...
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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
    Hey mrswilliam & Wilu, I appreciate it that you both circled back to me here letting me know of your current state of affairs. Initially I’m glad to hear that you’ve both been able to work around the previous syncing issues & I’m here to send you some pro-active tips for future reference!
     
    Now mrswilliam, I’m right on the same page with you after the last bit you added in your last post that your deleted files re-appeared & I can confirm that you took the most appropriate course of action, therefore you may reference the same set of steps in case you experience that again in the future. 
     
    Spoiler
    Often when you delete files or folders, they don’t immediately disappear from every synced computer. If you have a synced computer running an application that is using the file, that will cause the file to reappear in your Dropbox account. Or, if you’re seeing a shared file or folder reappear after deletion, it may be that a person you shared it with is accessing it.
     
    If you check the previous versions of the file and see that it was accessed from an application on another computer, you can delete it off of that computer to stop it from reappearing in your Dropbox.
    Following, when it comes to your remarks Wilu, you may have an additional look on my post here that explains how Conflicted Copies are created & ways to avoid them, as well as some tips regarding versioning. 
     
    Once again, thanks a lot to both for your ongoing cooperation & contribution on this conversation, it’s been a pleasure discussing this behavior with you, as each interaction helped me shape a slightly more coherent picture of what you were experiencing. 
     
    Our Community wall is always open to further inquiries or feedback & it’ll be a pleasure to hear back from you in the future. Happy syncing & take care until we talk again! 
mrswilliam's avatar
mrswilliam
Explorer | Level 4

Jane

Thanks for the info.  

i think I'm OK now.  My problem did indeed arise because I hadn't synched W10 for a long while and it contained loads of old files which had been deleted both from W8.1 and Online and they started reappearing again.  I stopped, unlinked and uninstalled Dropbox from W10 quickly enough to stop it doing any damage. Both W8.1 and W10 are synching OK right now.

My problem will arise again in the future should I leave one or the other PCs in limbo - ie. not use it for a while which means it won't synch. Deleted files may start reappearing again. But as long as they don't replace new files of the same name than its OK.

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Hey mrswilliam & Wilu, I appreciate it that you both circled back to me here letting me know of your current state of affairs. Initially I’m glad to hear that you’ve both been able to work around the previous syncing issues & I’m here to send you some pro-active tips for future reference!
 
Now mrswilliam, I’m right on the same page with you after the last bit you added in your last post that your deleted files re-appeared & I can confirm that you took the most appropriate course of action, therefore you may reference the same set of steps in case you experience that again in the future. 
 
Spoiler
Often when you delete files or folders, they don’t immediately disappear from every synced computer. If you have a synced computer running an application that is using the file, that will cause the file to reappear in your Dropbox account. Or, if you’re seeing a shared file or folder reappear after deletion, it may be that a person you shared it with is accessing it.
 
If you check the previous versions of the file and see that it was accessed from an application on another computer, you can delete it off of that computer to stop it from reappearing in your Dropbox.
Following, when it comes to your remarks Wilu, you may have an additional look on my post here that explains how Conflicted Copies are created & ways to avoid them, as well as some tips regarding versioning. 
 
Once again, thanks a lot to both for your ongoing cooperation & contribution on this conversation, it’s been a pleasure discussing this behavior with you, as each interaction helped me shape a slightly more coherent picture of what you were experiencing. 
 
Our Community wall is always open to further inquiries or feedback & it’ll be a pleasure to hear back from you in the future. Happy syncing & take care until we talk again! 

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