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

FLHowe's avatar
FLHowe
New member | Level 2
8 years ago

ALL MY FILES ARE MISSING!

I have not deleted anything, and every, single one of my file folders is empty. I had a LOT of important graphic design work in those folders and it is ALL GONE. How do I get it back? I did NOT delete any of it. I have not changed my subscription, or anything else. The files have just disappeared. 

 

Please help! 

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

    Hey FLHowe

     

    Welcome to the Dropbox Community! 

     

    As a first step, please follow Mark's advice, so as to look up for your missing files on the Deleted Files page. If you remember any filenames, you may also use the search option on your account to check if any of these files were uploaded. 
    Do your files show up there? 
     
    Secondly, I'd like to ask you to have a look at your account's Events page, where you have an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders.
     
    Adds, edits, and deletes that happened at roughly the same time are grouped together and these events are sorted by time, starting with the most recent changes at the top of the page. Were the files added there? 
     
    Please have a look at the options above and keep me updated here on the results! 
     
    Warm regards, 
    JaneA
    • FLHowe1's avatar
      FLHowe1
      Helpful | Level 5

      Neither of these work. If I click "show deleted files" the same empty file folders show up, but NONE of the content. The Events folder does not show any history of me deleting these files. We are talking at least 100 files, including the graphic art I created for my son's cause logo. (he is a pediatric cancer survivor) plus three years worth of work for a non-profit organization. GONE. 

    • FLHowe1's avatar
      FLHowe1
      Helpful | Level 5

      As I said, I have not deleted any files at all. So, that option won't help me. I found a contact form for DropBox that I found to submit my issue. 

      • JM88's avatar
        JM88
        Helpful | Level 5

        One thing that surprised me is that files can be deleted from other computers, including ones you've previously logged in to and no longer use. Customer service may be able to tell you where the deletions are coming from, and you can then remove whichever computer that is from your device list. In my case, I was losing thousands of important files due to a Sony laptop I once logged into two years ago. Removing it solved my problems - here's how:

         

         - Open Dropbox online

         - Left-click on the circle with your profile picture/avatar in the top right corner of the screen. This should open the "Personal Account" page.

         - Select the "Security" tab.

         - Scroll down until you see a box beneath the heading "Devices".

         - Just click the "x" next to any devices you're no longer using.

         

        After that - if you haven't done so already, buy a few external HDs and backup your stuff there every week from now on (or set up Time Machine if you have a Mac). I wanted to use Dropbox as a backup, but it's not sufficient for that unfortunately.

  • BenTan's avatar
    BenTan
    New member | Level 2

    Same thing happened to me! I haven't deleted anything and now I have two folders with no content in them which previously had all of my work... I'm absolutely screwed if these files don't return

  • BenTan's avatar
    BenTan
    New member | Level 2

    I'm missing huge amounts of work out of two folders with absolutely no explanation. I haven't deleted the files and haven't done anything out of the ordinary. I can search for the old folders when I use dropbox in my browser, however when I go to click on the files they say they've been deleted – of which I can't find them in the deleted files section.. This is HUGELY frustrating.


    I'm completely screwed if this doesn't get resolved – has anyone else been suffering from this?

    • Mark's avatar
      Mark
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
      Have you followed JaneA's advice?
      • FLHowe1's avatar
        FLHowe1
        Helpful | Level 5

        Did not work. Events does not show me deleting these files. Which I wouldn't have deleted them. It's ALL of my work. ALL of it. Obviously something DropBox did to my account because it would have been impossible for me to "accidentally" delete at least 100 files at the same time. 

    • Sanchez's avatar
      Sanchez
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      Hey BenTan, welcome to our forum! 
      I have moved your post here, so we can concentrate our efforts all in one place. 
       
      FLHowe & BenTan, have you tried the suggestions offered above by Mark and Jane? If you have, and are not successful in locating your files, I suggest you write in to our support team here for further investigation and troubleshooting. Our team will take a look at your account, and discuss your restoration options with you! 
       
      Thanks!
      • FLHowe1's avatar
        FLHowe1
        Helpful | Level 5

        I did that yesterday. Submitted a support ticket. Hopefully they can help me. 

  • mychang's avatar
    mychang
    Explorer | Level 3
    I am having the same problem. Please help me too!

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

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!