How to Recover Deleted Dropbox Files more than 30/180 Days?

You must know Dropbox, an American file hosting service founded in 2007. As a cloud storage platform, Dropbox synchronizes the uploaded data to its servers and to other devices where the users has installed Dropbox, keeping the same files up-to-date on all devices. It is available both for dropbox.com and app version under different operating systems (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android).

Precisely with its extensive use, Dropbox files deletion / lost also happens a lot inevitably. Users may wonder: can Dropbox recover its deleted files? Or do any other approaches exist to recover deleted files from Dropbox? Thankfully, the answer is yes. Just find the details in this article.

How Long does Dropbox Keep Deleted Files?

Files deleted from Dropbox will not be purged immediately. For a limited duration, they retain on the Dropbox servers while become invisible from your file folders. So here comes to the question: how long will Dropbox save your mistakenly deleted files? In fact, it totally hinges on which type of subscription plan you choose. 

If you subscribe to Basic, Plus or Family plan, Dropbox will keep the deleted files up to 30 days. If you are using a Professional or Business account, deleted files can be resumed within 180 days, much longer than the first one.

Therefore, once files are found to be removed on Dropbox less than 30/180 days, seek solutions inside Dropbox service. Otherwise, you are supposed to look for other tips on recovering permanently deleted Dropbox files. The next two parts will offer you some guidance.

How to Recover Deleted Dropbox Files Within 30/180 Days?

For purpose of lowering the possibility to lose data, several built-in features are designed to get back accidentally deleted data from Dropbox within the specified time limit, namely 30 or 180 days. We have dug out 4 solutions to share with you here.

Solution 1: Recover deleted files from Dropbox Deleted files folder

Does Dropbox have a recycle bin? Absolutely yes. There is a default folder called Deleted files, equivalent to Trash on Mac or Recycle Bin on Windows. If deleting Dropbox files or folders recently by chance, the first place to be checked should be this folder. The tutorial is as following.

1. Go to visit the web page: https://www.dropbox.com/login
2. Log in with your username and password.
3. Select “Deleted files” from the left sidebar.
4. Click the file you would like to recover > click ”Restore” button to revert it back to its original location in Dropbox.

Note: If you want to recover more than one file or folder at the same time, choose the check box on the left of each file prior to clicking “Restore”.

Unfortunately, this method won’t work if the “Deleted files” folder has been emptied manually or automatically out of the time limit. Then you’d better proceed to other options.

Solution 2: Restore deleted Dropbox files from Events page

Events page keeps a record of all your activities on Dropbox involving files / folders deletion, addition, restoration, rename, edit, moves, etc. From the record list, you can find your recently lost files and undelete them easily. But for those files or folders deleted long ago, it might be little possibility to get them on the Events page. To recover recently deleted files on Dropbox by Events:

1. Log into your Dropbox account through the browser.
2. Enter the page: https://www.dropbox.com/events
3. Locate the event where you delete the file > click on its corresponding link. You can also specify the events by limiting the event date on the right.
4. After entering the Event Details page, click “Restore” to add the file back again.

Solution 3: Retrieve Dropbox files with Version History

Provided that you have made some major changes to your Dropbox file but later want to undo these changes, Version History feature will come to the rescue. Dropbox service is designed to retain changes made to your files and save previous file versions. Here’s how to restore an old version of an existing Dropbox file with Version History.

1. Go to dropbox.com > log in with your username and password.
2. Select the exact file you want to restore > click on the three horizontal dots icon on its right.
3. Choose “Activity” option from the drop-down menu > click “Version history”.
4. Click on the available file version you desire. You will see a preview to make sure it is the right version.
5. Click “Restore” button on the top to replace the current version of this file.

Bear in mind that Dropbox Basic, Plus and Family users can only restore file versions no more than 30 days; while Professional and Business accounts can recover old file versions within 180 days.

Solution 4: Use Dropbox Rewind to recover deleted files

Dropbox Rewind is another built-in data recovery tool that lets users take a folder or the entire account back to a specific point in time. This function is suitable for dealing with the occasion when a multiplicity of file changes need to be undone or a huge data loss issue occurs due to ransomware disaster or virus infection, etc. As below is the guide on restoring deleted Dropbox files through Rewind.

1. Log into dropbox.com with your username and password.
2. Click “All files” on the left sidebar.
3. To recover a specific folder, go to find the folder > click the three horizontal dots icon next to it > select “Activity” from the drop-down menu > choose “Rewind this folder” option. 
   If you would like to rewind the entire Dropbox account, select “Rewind Dropbox” from the menu on the right panel.
4. Click “Try Rewind” button. Dropbox will show you a graph that displays activities made to your folder in days.
5. Pick a day before you changed the folder or lost the files > click “Continue”.
6. From the Fine tune list, scroll down to find the earliest change you want to reverse > click the blue line below it > select “ Continue”.
7. Click “Rewind” button to start the rewinding.

After the rewind process finished, Dropbox will send you an email for notice. 

Supposing the 4 methods described above all failed to get back your deleted Dropbox files, a trustworthy third-party data recovery software must be the wisest choice to recover permanently deleted files from Dropbox. Read on to learn the detailed contents.

How to Recover Deleted Files from Dropbox more than 30/180 Days?

Dropbox can no longer retrieve deleted files over 30/180 days. Yet it is still possible to regain your lost Dropbox files after the set time-frame. We all know that these days many Dropbox files are uploaded from users’ PCs or Macs. In other words, even though the files have been erased both from Dropbox servers and local drive, you still have a chance to find back the deleted Dropbox files using a reliable data recovery software.

Here Cisdem Data Recovery for Windows and Mac is strongly recommended. This program supports any data loss situations like deletion, format, system crash, hardware failure, human error or other unforeseen circumstances. It can recover deleted or lost files from your personal devices directly to Dropbox platform, leaving out the file upload process, even repair damaged videos in many formats. Users do not need specialized knowledge in face of heavy-duty data retrieval.

This is how to recover permanently deleted Dropbox file after 30/180 days：

1. Download, install and launch Cisdem Data Recovery. 

Free Download   Free Download

2. Scan a local drive.
   Select Disk Data Recovery mode in the left sidebar. Choose the drive that was used to store the Dropbox file. Click “Search for lost files” to start.
3. Locate the Dropbox file.
   Once scanning completes, all recoverable items will be showed according to different file categories. Use filter tools, format tags or search bar to find out your deleted Dropbox file.
4. Recover the Dropbox file.
   You can preview the file to make sure it is the wanted one. Select it and click “Recover” to restore it to the local drive on your computer or Dropbox directly.

Summing-up

To reduce the risk of permanent data loss, Dropbox possesses several default functions to rescue deleted files within 30/180 days for different levels of subscribers. In case your files are removed from Dropbox permanently, no worries, try Cisdem Data Recovery for Windows and Mac to recover them back.