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Forum Discussion
deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years
Something very weird just happened with my dropbox account. Out of nowhere, a folder which was deletec about 2 years ago re appeared on my dropbox. It has the files as they were, which makes me wonde...
Thanks everyone for your patience while we worked on a way to clean up the inadvertently restored files and folders. We've built a fix that will automatically return this content to the way it should be: deleted and out of your Dropbox. This will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders, and only if you haven’t updated them. We’ll begin rolling out the fix to affected users’ accounts later today. We’re giving you a heads up here so you’re aware of why there may be changes to your Dropbox. Here’s a bit more information about the fix.
Will this affect my other files?
The fix will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders. If you have edited the files or folders—by moving them or updating the content inside—they will stay in your Dropbox. You can still manually delete these files and folders if you don’t want them.What if I don’t want these files or folders removed?
While the fix will automatically take effect later today, you can contact our support team (dropbox.com/support) within 30 days and we’ll restore the files and folders for you. You won’t be able to restore on your own using the events page.Do I need to do anything?
We will automatically roll out the fix, you don’t need to do a thing. If you have questions or concerns, please write our support team at http://bit.ly/cm-support so that we can investigate your specific case. Your ticket will be prioritized by the team.Thanks again for your patience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience and confusion we’ve caused.
I just received a new folder in my DropBox - it is called "Shared".
It contains a single zero-byte text file named "Shared with Matt.txt"
Dropbox's desktop agent did *not* show any notification that this had happened. Neither did it prompt me to accept the share (normally you get to accept a share by clicking "Add To Dropbox"???)
Windows 10 Action Centre (the alerts pane that appears on the bottom-right *did* give me a notification. That notification was:
"DropBox Server (DS) has shared a folder with you". Again there was no option to accept this, it just happened.
Finally, the new folder that has appeared does not appear to be shared with anyone else, and the text file inside it is dated from 2010.
I have a (very!) dim recollection I *might* have created this file myself (but 6 years ago??) so I'm wondering:
a - is this some DropBox bug that's recreating old deleted stuff from years ago (and if so why does my notification come from "DropBox Server?)
b - this is the prelude to some kind of hack / attack (maybe tomorrow someone will "share" a malicious executable with me expecting me to run it?
- Rich
Super User II
clumsybiker wrote:
I have a (very!) dim recollection I *might* have created this file myself (but 6 years ago??) so I'm wondering:
There are a couple of other people that reported old folders returning after being deleted previously (in at least one case, years ago), so it's likely that the same has happened to you.
a - is this some DropBox bug that's recreating old deleted stuff from years ago (and if so why does my notification come from "DropBox Server?)
Best guess, yes, and probably because the Dropbox servers are adding the files back. Again... best guess.
b - this is the prelude to some kind of hack / attack (maybe tomorrow someone will "share" a malicious executable with me expecting me to run it?
Highly unlikely.
- RichI'm merging these threads into one so it's easier to track this issue.
- update - as a precaution I've changed password and cancelled any pre-existing sessions/connections to my account and re-entered the new password on all my devices. Still be interested to understand what might have happened though!
