How long does Dropbox keep my deleted files and information? (2024)

FAQs

How long does Dropbox keep my deleted files and information? ›

Dropbox Basic, Plus, and Family accounts can recover deleted files for 30 days. Dropbox Professional and team Standard accounts can recover deleted files for 180 days.

Dropbox saves deleted and previous versions of files for a specific period of time so you can recover them if desired. After that time, the deleted files are marked for permanent deletion in our system and are removed from our storage servers. Once they've been deleted, they can no longer be recovered or restored.

Don't worry—Dropbox saves all your lost files for 30 days (or longer for users on Dropbox Professional and team plans). No other data recovery tools or file recovery software is required. There's no need to talk to tech support either—you can restore deleted files yourself at dropbox.com.

Dropbox Basic, Plus, and Family accounts can recover versions of a file made within the last 30 days. Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Standard, and Business accounts can recover versions of a file made within the last 180 days.

This deletion timeline will depend on your plan: Dropbox Basic, Plus, Family, and Standard: Transfers are deleted 30 days after their expiration date. Dropbox Transfer, Professional, Education, Essentials, Advanced, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise: Transfers are deleted 180 days after their expiration date.

Dropbox Basic, Plus, and Family accounts can recover deleted files for 30 days. Dropbox Professional and team Standard accounts can recover deleted files for 180 days. Team Advanced and Enterprise accounts can recover deleted files for 365 days.

Files deleted this way can be easily recovered through Dropbox. However, permanent deletions cannot be recovered using Dropbox and instead need a third-party recovery to be restored.

Dropbox files at rest are encrypted using 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). In fact, Dropbox is designed with multiple layers of protection to keep your files secure, above and beyond this encryption.

Dropbox Backup lets you back up any file or folder on your computer's home folder to the cloud. Once your files are backed up with Dropbox Backup, you can access them from dropbox.com/backup/all. If you're an admin for a team account, learn how to manage Dropbox Backup for your team.

From time to time, Dropbox deletes inactive accounts. If there's no activity on your Dropbox account for an extended period of time, Dropbox will notify you—or the account owner—in an email. To keep an account active, log in and we'll know you want to keep it. Or, if you no longer want your account, you can close it.

Can I recover deleted files from 2 years ago? ›

If permanently deleted 2 years ago, they are gone and can not be recovered. 2 years is too far back in time.

Deleted files don't count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won't free up space. If other Dropbox users have a copy of the files that you permanently delete, their copies won't be deleted.

You can clear all previous Dropbox sync history and requests by tapping "Clear Sync History" in the bottom navigation of the Account Information window. This can be useful if you're seeing problems with Dropbox not syncing as it will start a fresh sync process the next time you run the presentation.

Launch the Dropbox app. Navigate to the file you'd like to delete from your Dropbox account. Tap the "...” (ellipsis) icon to the right of the file. Tap Delete to delete the file from Dropbox, your phone, and all computers connected to your account.

To archive a Dropbox Paper folder: Hover over the folder you want to archive. Click the checkbox. Click Archive.

What happens when I cancel my Dropbox subscription or trial? If you cancel your Dropbox subscription or trial or your subscription expires, your account will downgrade to a Dropbox Basic (free) account at the end of your billing cycle or trial. Additionally: You'll still have access to all of your files and folders.

Deleted files don't count against your storage quota, so permanently deleting them won't free up space. If other Dropbox users have a copy of the files that you permanently delete, their copies won't be deleted.

However, sometimes you may encounter the “Dropbox deleting files by itself” issue. This problem is usually associated with improper file synchronization, disabled file/folder sharing, mistaken file deletion, unstable network connection, temporary Dropbox server glitches, virus infection, etc.