Dropbox Documents
Paul
I had Dropbox installed on my Mac and selected the Documents folder to be synced a few days ago. I wanted to remove the synced content and deleted the Dropbox folder from my device which also apparently deleted my Documents folder. I tried recovery apps and they can restore anything but that specific folder and noticed that my Documents folder got replaced with a shortcut to Dropbox/syncedsomething/Documents.
If you unlinked or uninstalled the desktop app then this should have been reverted. If you've done either of those steps, could you send me a screenshot of what you're referring to with the Documents folder path?
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I find this very weird as I never checked the path. I just clicked on Documents, saw my documents there so I went to the Dropbox folder, deleted everything there and removed it from the recycle bin. I didn't realise both the default left shortcut for Finder and the Dropbox folder were in fact the same location. I did manage to recuperate most of my data by now and changed back my Documents folder to reflbut am still a bit shook up and cannot understand why an app might want to change the MacOS shortcut to it's own sync folder.
I am experiencing similar issues. A few days a popup asked me if I wanted to backup the entire laptop, noting that the files will nto be moved. I clicked on yes, thinking that since the files will not actually be in the Dropbox folder, this would not affect the space limitation, but I was wrong, and soon enough I was out of space. I tried deleting the PC path folder in the dropbox, but now all the files were deleted, and I am not beign succesful in restoring the ones in the Documents folder of the PC. The ones in downloads and desktop were restored. I have since figured out the correct way to stop the full PC backup (preferencs>manage backup etc.), but I still don't have those missing files. How do I get the files from documents back?
If you haven't already, please check in your recycling bin to see if you can restore the deleted files from there. Also, I can suggest checking if they can be restored through Dropbox with these steps.
**bleep** IT!! Same situation here! I deleted and turned off dropbox locally and now no Documents or Desktop, completely gone from my MAC! And I had emptied the trash bin. I see the backup in my Dropbox account but when I download the zipped file I get an error trying to open it.
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I'd like to have the My Documents folder on my HP synced with Dropbox, so I have a backup in the cloud. But I can't figure out how to do it without having a copy of My Documents in the My Dropbox folder (i.e., having two copies of My Documents taking up space on my hard drive). I might be overlooking something simple, but the system won't let me move My Documents into the My Dropbox folder, only copy it there. I just want files to upload to Dropbox automatically every time I add them to my computer. Using Window 7 and Windows Explorer, if that helps. Any ideas?
Hi, same question: I just upgraded to Pro version with 1TB Dropbox and will also use this for all My Documents and My Pictures. Microsoft OneDrive is located outside the My Documnets and can therefore easely to use as a cloud for all my Office documents. How can I do this with Dropbox?
I don't see any answers to the above questions.... does Dropbox not answer the questions in the user forums? I want to do the same thing as Halvor R. I also just upgraded to Pro and want to use it as a backup cloud for My Documents and My Pictures. An answer about this from Dropbox would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Mychale, the "comments' here are 99% unofficial! DB expect you to browse around the help files and the forums. But that can take some time. Short version is "use selective-sync" in which you select folder(s) to Not have on your computer. Long version is "DB is not a backup system", so only use if to backup y our personal files (not system files).
I want to do the same thing as Halvor R. I also just upgraded to Pro and want to use it as a backup cloud for My Documents and My Pictures. An answer about this from Dropbox would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Go to your c drive, users, your user and right clic My docs. In location, change it to the new location (Dropbox). Windows will move mydocs to dropbox. Dropbox will upload the full folder to the cloud. Now you have some kind of backup (if your laptop is stolen or your hdd have a malfuntion, your files will be safe in the cloud)
Note: The Dropbox Scan app has been removed from the iOS App Store. If you currently have it installed on your iOS mobile device, you can continue to use it, but it'll no longer be supported.
To scan documents on a mobile device, use the document scanning feature in the Dropbox mobile app.
Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise customers can search the contents of scanned documents in their Dropbox account (see supported file types below). Dropbox Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise customers who've linked their work and personal accounts also have access to full-text search for their personal account.
Hi,
Until recently I had a dropbox account, with dropbox backup (windows 11).
I deleted the account, and uninstalled the app, a few months ago.
The Dropbox folder in the file system was still there, though I had been making sure to not save anything in that folder, ie. I would save to c: users/me/documents
Anyway, I just deleted the drobox folder, and now my Documents, Desktop and Download folders are empty, and an error message says that they are unavailable. Can anyone help?
So, when you set up Dropbox backup it actually moves all of the folders and directories to the Dropbox folder. It then places hidden links in original locations that replicate what you do. So if you delete them all it does actually delete them (and as you said - permanently as they are too large). There isn't a way to recover apart from Windows recycle bin.
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If you didn't disable the backup feature prior to uninstalling, then yes, your Desktop, Documents, etc., folders would still be located in the Dropbox folder. If you then delete the Dropbox folder, you're deleting those folders as well.
I had exactly the same issue but on a mac. Thought I was deleting an empty dropbox folder and instead deleted 8 years work as my desktop, documents and downloads folders all were deleted. Lots of stuff I can never get back. I had no idea dropbox could have such a devastating impact.
So to preface, I'm relatively new to Dropbox, and only got it for a couple work gigs. But the moment it had access to my computer, it started creating a backup I think? Which, with only 2 GB of Dropbox Basic storage, there was no way it could do that with the 200+GB of stuff on my computer. So naturally it filled up pretty quickly, and I paused the sync.
At this point I try to free up some space, so I go to the dropbox folder in my Mac, select the attempted backup of my computer, and delete it. I think it was then that the folders disappeared, but I didn't notice until I was in the Dropbox system preferences trying to make it stop creating automatic backups...tried to deselect the Desktop, Downloads, and Documents folders and save, but then a message popped up saying the folders couldn't be located...
So now this morning comes around, and the folders(Desktop, Downloads, Documents) are back on my computer, along with all my personal folders inside them, but all of my actual DOCUMENTS...all my pdfs of taxes, all pictures, work documents.. are just GONE. Can anyone help me out? where did all my actual files go and how do I get them back??