Restore deleted user accounts on a Dropbox Business team

If a Dropbox Business admin accidentally deleted a team member, they have seven days to restore the user. Restoring a member reactivates the account with the same files and permissions, so the account is exactly as it was before deletion. Team admins and user management admins can restore deleted users.

How to restore a team member

1. Sign in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2. Click Admin Console.
3. Click Members.
4. Click the Member type dropdown.
5. Select Deleted.
6. Click the gear icon beside the name of the member you want to restore. If you don't see their name, it means they cannot be restored.
7. Click Restore member.
8. Click Restore in the pop-up window.

What if I'm not seeing the option to restore a team member?

There are a few reasons why an admin may not see the option to restore a team member. These include:

• The member was deleted more than seven days ago. After seven days, an admin can use account transfer to transfer files to a new team member account.
• An admin already used account transfer on the deleted member's account.
• An admin chose to permanently delete the member.
• The member was restored by Dropbox Support.
• The member was invited, but never actually joined your team.
• The member was deleted by an app that uses the v.1 of the Dropbox API.

What is restored?

When you restore a deleted team member, their account should be restored to its previous state, including shared folders, files, Paper docs, groups, and all user settings. However, deleted member restoration should only be used as a backup measure. 

If you're unsure whether to delete a member or not, consider suspending them first.

What is not restored?

Restored team members won’t be added back to exception lists for some features. For example, if a member was in an exception list for enterprise mobility management (EMM), you'll need to re-add them to the exception list after restoring their account.

How to restore multiple team members with the Dropbox API

To restore a large number of team members at once, use the Dropbox Business API. There are two ways to do this:

• Use your own script to restore members with the Dropbox API
  • See documentation for restoring members with your own API script
• Use the Dropbox restoration tool
  • Download the restoration tool