Logged into my account and all my files are missing

[Lazman1140]

I've had a drop box subscription for a few years and at renewal, December 1st, 2022, I upgraded to DropBox Plus. Last week I had a blue-screen issue on my Desktop and took it to a repairman. He saved, documents, then (I suppose) cleared the hard drive, and then he reloaded Windows Home 10. When I got my computer back, I noticed I was missing programs - Reaper and Bluebeam. I was annoyed but not too concerned because I had purchase receipts and licenses stored in Dropbox. Then I noticed that Drop Box desktop short-cut was missing. I tried to log-in to DropBox but couldn't remember my password, so the DropBox Chat agent or bot sent me a password reset link. I used that to open DropBox, but all my files are missing. I paid a full year subscription in advance expecting secure cloud storage, but all my stored documents are gone  ... very important documents for which there are no or very limited hard copies. Does anyone know how I can recover my old account? Because it looks like my password reset started a new account.

[Hannah]

Hi there, @Jeff231, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.

If you created a new Dropbox account under that email address, it means that the Dropbox account that was previously associated with that address is deleted or disabled for some reason.

Try clicking the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar and then on the globe icon next to your initials/profile pic.

This should take you to your account on dropbox.com; what do you see there?

Let me know!

[Jeff231]

Hi Hannah, it takes me to my account which is empty. No files or folders. When I click on sync history it shows me a history of my files (I just had a file sync 12 says ago). 

I did not receive any email from dropbox (in spam or inbox) to indicate my account would be/was deleted. I just was in dropbox a month ago so why would this be the case?

[Jeff231]

Hi Hannah, it takes me to my account which is empty. No files or folders. When I click on sync history it shows me a history of my files (I just had a file sync 12 days ago). 

I did not receive any email from dropbox (in spam or inbox) to indicate my account would be/was deleted. I just was in dropbox a month ago so why would this be the case?

[Mark]

Hi @Jeff231 

If you can see a history at www.dropbox.com/events than it isnt a new account. 

Can you restore those files from that page or https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore ?

[Jeff231]

Hi Mark, no neither of these suggestions worked. 

[Mark]

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@Jeff231 wrote:

Hi Mark, no neither of these suggestions worked. 

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How long ago were the files deleted?

Can you post a screenshot of the Events page?

[Laney Lou]

I have had a DropBox account for years and have paid my monthly membership for quite some time.  I had a friend pass recently and was looking for old photos for use at his service. I logged in yesterday and found that hundreds of photos are missing.  I even had the app on my phone for a time so photos would upload automatically.  I have never deleted any photographs so I am not sure what could have happened.  All that is in there is photos I uploaded two months ago and that is it - at that time I didn't look at my pictures so I didn't realize any were missing.  I checked events and all it shows is the activity from my uploading two months ago.  I am devastated that I have potentially lost photographs from years ago when my kids were little and of friends and family that are no longer with us.  Does anyone have any idea what could have happened?  Please help!!

[Mark]

Hi @Laney Lou 

Does events show nothing before the 2 month mark? What does www.dropbox.com/account show in terms of quota and plan - does it show you paying?

That means one of two things. This account is brand new and not actually the one you are expecting to be using - especially if you are a paying user and this appears as free. It means you set up a new account 2 month ago rather than logging in to an old one. OR nothing has happened on the account for over 6 months until that 2 months - the events list only shows 6 months of data

[Laney Lou]

@mark Hi!! It shows basic but I am charged 11.99 a month and have been for at least the last 3 years.

[Mark]

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@Laney Lou wrote:

@mark Hi!! It shows basic but I am charged 11.99 a month and have been for at least the last 3 years.

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Then you are logged in to a different account to what you are paying for. Which would explain why you only see the data from 2 months ago.

Check for an email or receipt from Dropbox to see what the email on account is and how it is different to what you are using now