You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

Jochem8's avatar
Jochem8
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Account deleted? Files gone?

Hi everybody.

Something strange happened. A few days ago I got a message on my computer from the Dropbox app that I was logged out. I tried logging back in, didn't work and was too busy to look into it further.

Today, I tried to login again, to no avail. Then used the 'forgot password' function, but no e-mail came through. Then I tried to create a new account, using the same e-mail address I had been using for years. It worked, new account created. There were no files in this 'new' account. Does this mean my account got deleted and all of my files are gone? That would be a disaster.

I hope someone can help.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    2 years ago

    Jochem8 wrote:

    I stopped working there, so it's possible they have removed me from their Dropbox workspace. But I would assume this means I'm reverted back to my free account.


    No, not at all.

     

    Assuming you were in fact part of a Business team, when you joined that team, you merged your account into theirs, effectively making them the owner of your account. If they remove the account from the team, the account is deleted. In order to keep the account when you're removed from a team, the team admin needs to convert it back to an individual account.

     

    If you were removed from the team and your account was deleted, you need to contact the team admin and ask them to first restore your account, and then convert it. Act quickly as they only have seven days to restore an account once it has been deleted. The team admin has to do this; Dropbox Support cannot.

     

    One thing I'd do first, though, is change the email address on the new account that you just created (or delete the account), as two Dropbox accounts cannot use the same email address.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi there Jochem8, thanks for joining the Community and sorry to hear about this.

     

    Can you please clarify if your account was an individual one or if you were part of a team perhaps?

     

    If you could send us a screenshot of the exact error you got or provide more information, I'd appreciate it. 

     

    Thanks!

    • Jochem8's avatar
      Jochem8
      New member | Level 2

      Hi Walter. Thanks for your quick reply. I originally had an individual (free) account, then started working for my employer 2 years ago that also uses Dropbox. I stopped working there, so it's possible they have removed me from their Dropbox workspace. But I would assume this means I'm reverted back to my free account.

      The error was something along the lines of "you are logged out of your Dropbox account". This was about 2-3 days ago.

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

        Jochem8 wrote:

        I stopped working there, so it's possible they have removed me from their Dropbox workspace. But I would assume this means I'm reverted back to my free account.


        No, not at all.

         

        Assuming you were in fact part of a Business team, when you joined that team, you merged your account into theirs, effectively making them the owner of your account. If they remove the account from the team, the account is deleted. In order to keep the account when you're removed from a team, the team admin needs to convert it back to an individual account.

         

        If you were removed from the team and your account was deleted, you need to contact the team admin and ask them to first restore your account, and then convert it. Act quickly as they only have seven days to restore an account once it has been deleted. The team admin has to do this; Dropbox Support cannot.

         

        One thing I'd do first, though, is change the email address on the new account that you just created (or delete the account), as two Dropbox accounts cannot use the same email address.

About Security and Permissions

Start a discussion in the Dropbox Community forum to get help with your account security and permissions. Find support from Community members.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!