How to transfer a deleted team member's files
The feature described in this article is available to admins on Dropbox Standard, Advanced, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise.
Certain types of Dropbox admins can transfer a deleted team member’s files and folders to someone else on their team. This feature allows for a seamless transition of ownership and ensures that important files and folders are not lost or inaccessible after a member leaves the team.
You can only transfer a team member’s files and folders to another member after the first member is deleted. Learn how to delete a member from a Dropbox team account.
Notes:
- You can only transfer a deleted member’s files once.
- You can only transfer files from a team member's account within your version history limit.
What’s transferred during an account transfer?
- All existing folders and files.
- All deleted files.
- Ownership of shared folders that the former team member owned.
- Membership to shared folders owned by other members of your Dropbox team.
- Shared folders owned by someone outside your team that don't exceed the maximum file count.
- Ownership of Paper docs created by the former team member.
- A copy of the "Apps" folder containing third-party application data.
- Existing Signature documents (including Pending Signature, Pending your signature, Declined, and Signed).
- Existing Signature templates.
What isn't transferred during an account transfer?
- Groups can't be transferred via account transfer. Instead, an admin or group member will need to manually add new team members to groups.
- Shared links created by the former team member (the links will no longer work).
- Previous versions of files.
- Dropbox Backup content.
- Membership to shared folders owned by people outside of your Dropbox team. Only copies of these folders are transferred.
- Shared folders owned by someone outside your team that exceed the maximum file count.
- Access to Paper docs the deleted member didn't own.
- Datastores (a type of data that some third-party apps may use to store their data).
Note: If you use account transfer some time after a member's account was deleted from the team, the remaining content in the folders can vary from the moment when you complete the transfer to the moment the member’s account is deleted.
How to transfer files from a previously deleted member
You can only transfer a team member’s files and folders to another member after the first member is deleted. Learn how to delete a member from your team.
Note: You can only transfer files from a deleted member's account within your version history limit. After this limit is reached, there will be no way to recover or transfer any files that belonged to the delete member.
To transfer files from a deleted team member:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Admin Console from the left sidebar.
- Click the Members tab.
- Under Member type, select Deleted from the dropdown.
- Click the gear icon to the right of the former member's name and select Manage files from the menu.
- Select the option to Transfer them to another team member.
- Enter the recipient's name or email address and click Submit.
Note: The recipient must be a member of your Dropbox team account.
FAQs about account transfer
What should I do if an account transfer fails?
A recipient can only receive files from a single deleted user at a time. If you've deleted several team members and transferred their files to a single user within a short period, then the file transfer may fail temporarily. You should be notified via email if a transfer fails, at which point you can attempt the transfer again.
To prevent file transfer failures, it's best to request a single account transfer, wait a few minutes, and then request the next transfer for the next account, and so on until all of the files or accounts are transferred.
Alternatively, the admin or the previous file owner can share individual files or folders as needed.
What will account transfer look like for the recipient?
The deleted member's files will appear in a new folder named “[Deleted User’s]” in the recipient's personal folder.
You'll also see three subfolders within [Deleted User’s] files:
- "Shared": This is content that is owned by someone on your Dropbox team.
- "Previously Shared": This is content owned by someone not on your Dropbox team.
- "Home": This is content created by the [Deleted User] that hasn't been shared.
Can I transfer a team member’s files to multiple people
No, you can’t transfer a team member’s files to multiple people at once.
If it doesn't make sense to transfer all of a former team member's files to a single person, the admin can transfer the content to their own account and then share the files with various different users who need access.
How can I see account transfer activity?
To view account transfer activity:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click on Admin console in the left sidebar.
- Click Security.
Admins also receive a confirmation email whenever an account transfer occurs.
