What happens when I delete a file from my Dropbox account?
When you delete a file from Dropbox, it's no longer visible in any of the folders you see in your account. However, the file isn’t deleted until after your recovery window:
- 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.
Important: Standard file recovery periods and options don’t apply to files deleted directly from the Send and track feature. Deleting a file from Send and track is permanent, and any associated metadata or data analytics can’t be recovered once the file is deleted.
Note: Files may be deleted before the end of your recovery window if they are part of a data disposition policy.
What happens when I permanently delete a file or folder?
When you permanently delete a file or folder, it’s no longer visible in any of your folders and you can't recover it.
What happens when I delete a shared folder?
When you delete a file from a shared folder, any member of the folder can restore the file.
If you own the shared folder
- After you permanently delete it, the folder is deleted from the Dropbox accounts of all members and their access is permanently removed.
- If you want to leave members with a copy of the folder, you can just unshare it instead.
If you don’t own the shared folder
- Permanently deleting it removes the folder from your Dropbox account.
- All other members of the folder still have access.
Data destruction mechanisms
Dropbox uses a secure deletion process to delete data from our servers. Additionally, when a Dropbox storage disk has reached the end of its useful life or is damaged, we follow a decommissioning process that is designed to physically or logically destroy the disk to the point data can't be recovered. Our third-party service providers also follow secure protection processes for media they control.
Not using Dropbox yet? See how Dropbox makes file recovery and history easy.
What happens when I delete a Send and track file?
Files located in the “Send and track” folder take up storage space and count towards your storage limit.
Community answers
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Posted by: kurioshopp 28 days ago941140
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Posted by: SausalitoDog 174 days ago86431
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Posted by: Sqetch 294 days ago137970