How to remote wipe files from a team member’s device
Updated Oct 10, 2023
The information in this article applies to certain types of admins on Dropbox Advanced, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise.
Admins can remote wipe all team files from a specific team member’s device. This is recommended if a team member is no longer on your team, or if their device is lost or stolen.
Learn more about remote wipe or how to remote wipe a device if you're a team member or on a Plus, Family, Professional, or Essentials plan.
Learn more about remote wipe or how to remote wipe a device if you're a team member or on a Plus, Family, Professional, or Essentials plan.
Notes:
- Remote wipe only deletes a member’s team account and files. If the team member linked a personal account, it doesn’t delete the files in the personal account.
- Signatures, Replay, and Send and track content won’t be deleted from the user’s device.
How to remote wipe a team member’s files
To remote wipe files from a team member’s device:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click on Admin console in the left sidebar.
- Click Members.
- Click the name of the member whose files you want to remote wipe.
- Under Devices, click the X next to the device you'd like to remove.
- Check Delete files from [Organization name] Dropbox the next time this computer comes online.
- If you don’t see this, and the device is a phone or tablet, move on to the next step. Files can’t be synced to phones and tablet, even if they’re made available offline, so there’s no need to remote wipe them. If you follow these steps, you’re still removing access to the files in the account with that device by remotely logging the team member out.
- Click Sign out.
Note: If they have the Dropbox Paper app installed, you can also log them out of the Paper app remotely. This would remove access to their files from the device.
How to check the remote wipe status of team member files
To check the remote wipe status of the files:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
- Click the Members tab.
- Click the team member's name. Or, if you have deleted the user's account from the team already, click the Deleted members tab and click the member’s name.
- In the Delete in progress section, find the device and its Device status.
Can I undo a remote wipe?
No, a remote wipe can’t be undone. When you unlink a device, you have the option to delete the content from that device as well.
If the user needs the content back on their device, they’ll need to re-link their account in their desktop app on that device.