Backed up files disappeared from my laptop but are visible on the website

[Rivkah]

Hi

I have my documents on my laptop synced to Dropbox and I went on my Files on my laptop before and all my documents had disappeared. I went on Dropbox and it showed I have a new backup location instead of PC, by backups now go to PC2, I'm not sure why it did this but I don't know how to get this folder back on my laptop documents so that I can access all my work on my laptop.

Does anyone know why this backup switched location? And how can I restore all my work to my laptop?

Thanks

[Hannah]

Thanks for letting us know about this, @Rivkah .

Was your laptop perhaps disconnected from your Dropbox account at any point?

Can you send us a screenshot of what you see on this page?

Thanks in advance.

[Rivkah]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, no it should always be connected to my laptop. Every so often I'm not connected to Wifi though but that's never affected my dropbox before.

Sure I attached the screenshot below

[Megan]

Thanks for the screenshot @Rivkah ! 

Can you also share with me the syncing status and app version of your Dropbox app?

Just to check if the app is up and running, and syncing properly as it should. When you open your Dropbox folder, there is no sign of your PC2 folder there, right? 

[Rivkah]

Is this the syncing status? Im not sure I did that correctly

On my laptop there is a PC2 folder but it only has downloads in.

When I go on my dropbox this is what I see, if I click on PC, which is where my documents used to be there is nothing there except one folder, and if I click on PC2 it shows only my downloads. I can only get to all my other folders if I click on the words "new location" does that make sense?

Do you know how I can fix it?

[Megan]

Hey @Rivkah, is it possible that you enabled Dropbox Backup in a different, second device or a different user profile? 

I'd also love to have a screenshot from the app's preferences, under Backups and what you see when you click "Manage Backups".

[Rivkah]

Hi,

I think my dropbox is still activated on my old laptop which my sister used so maybe she pressed something? Is there a way to delete dropbox from that laptop without deleting it for me? 

I attached the screenshot below. 

[Megan]

Hey @Rivkah  , thanks for the heads up!

I thought this might be the culprit there. You can delete the backup in your sister's device, using this page online.

If you press delete, then you should be able to delete your backup by unlinking the device from your Dropbox account.

If you have any questions, let me know! 

[Rivkah]

When i go on that page it brings me to this 

What am I supposed to press?

If I delete the backups will that not permanently delete them? Or will it make them back on my laptop?

Thanks so much for your help, sorry im not understanding

[Megan]

No worries @Rivkah! 

You either need access to the PC so you can disable it within Preferences in the Dropbox app, or you need to remove the PC from your list of Linked Devices. 

Then that computer is no longer linked to Dropbox so it can't be syncing and the backup feature can't be active.

You can also either try to click "Manage Backups" or the ellipsis button, and follow the steps it gives you there.