You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
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.
Same thing happening to me. I am an experienced Dropbox user and know that this might occur if files are not deleted on other devices (for reasons such as write protection or if in use and such), but that is not the issue here. These are old folder and occasional - random - files in the folders. This is a very disturbing bug, because it makes me concerned about the syncing of my current files and so on. I'd like to see Dropbox reply to this immediately, please.
- Rich
Super User II
janchristensen wrote:
I'd like to see Dropbox reply to this immediately, please.
Dropbox is already aware of the issue and is looking into it. When I hear more, I'll post it.
We had the same issue, and file organization completely wackadoo. That's my technical term for the day. :)
- Dear Rich, it's been two days. My Dropbox seems to have been restored, but will there be some update and explanation about what is or has been going on? Best regards, Jan Christensen
Ross_SDropbox Staff
Thanks for your reports, and we’re sorry for the confusion we’ve caused. Here’s more information about why some of you are seeing previously deleted files or folders reappear in your Dropbox.
What happened?
A bug was preventing some files and folders from being fully deleted off of our servers, even after users had deleted them from their Dropbox accounts. While fixing the bug, we inadvertently restored the impacted files and folders to those users’ accounts. This was our mistake; it wasn’t due to a third party and you weren’t hacked.Why are these files and folders so old?
Typically, we permanently remove files and folders from our servers within 60 days of a user deleting them. However, the deleted files and folders impacted by this bug had metadata inconsistencies. So we quarantined and excluded them from the permanent deletion process until the metadata could be fixed. During this time no one had access to your files or folders and none of your other files were affected.What should you do?
We’ve fixed the metadata bug so you can delete these files and folders now, and they won’t reappear. We’re continuing to explore alternative solutions and will keep you updated here on the forum. In the meantime, we’ve made sure these files and folders won’t have a negative impact on your quota.If you still have questions, you can reach our support team at http://bit.ly/cm-support
P.S: This has been marked as a 'solution' to be pinned to the top of the page and visible to everyone.
