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Forum Discussion
I want to sign in to an old, deactivated account.
I want to sign in to an account I previously deactivated, but I don't remember my password and the email I used for two-step verification is no longer available. There's no way to enter the verification code. Is there anything I can try?
gahae_han wrote:
I hadn't used my Dropbox account for a long time, so I thought it might have been automatically deactivated. And the email associated with my Dropbox account is currently unavailable, because I deleted it. I need the photos and videos in my Dropbox account. I look forward to your help.
If you havent logged in in over 12 months the files have been deleted: https://help.dropbox.com/account-access/email-about-inactive-account
Its also not possible to get access to an account without access to the email: https://help.dropbox.com/account-access/lost-email-access
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi gahae_han, let's jump right into this!
When you say you deactivated the account, do you mean the email linked to the Dropbox account, or the account itself?
If you're talking about the Dropbox account, then you shouldn't be able to access a deleted account. All that you can do is create a new account, using the email address you used for the old one.
I hope this clarifies!
I hadn't used my Dropbox account for a long time, so I thought it might have been automatically deactivated. And the email associated with my Dropbox account is currently unavailable, because I deleted it. I need the photos and videos in my Dropbox account. I look forward to your help.
- Rich
Super User II
gahae_han wrote:
I hadn't used my Dropbox account for a long time, so I thought it might have been automatically deactivated.
If the account was idle for more than a year it would have been deleted due to inactivity. Unfortunately, once an account has been deleted, it's not possible to recover the account of the files it contained.
- I have reached out to support on this but hoping that someone else has some experience. Is there any way to recover an account that has been inactive for 12 months? I have seen on this board that pictures are deleted and accounts are inactive after 12 mos without logging in. Has anyone been able to recover an account that has been disabled? I never received an email that the account was going to be disabled but I can no longer login. I just have trouble believing that I trusted Dropbox with these files and now they have all been deleted. I am at a loss for why Dropbox would have this policy when they know people are storing their memories here.
- Mark
Unfortunately once an account is deleted for inactivity it is permanently removed and not recoverable. I'm afraid if that's happened there is nothing anybody can do 😞
- Thanks for the reply. I had seen that mentioned before just hoping that something could be done. Appreciate the help.
I downloaded photos to a Dropbox account in 2014 that used a email account I did not have access to for a while. When I try to log in using that email, Dropbox tells me to create a new account. There is no indication that an account with that email exists. I did not get an email to that account when I tried to reset the password. I have another Dropbox account using a different email that I can access but there are no photos in that account so I don't think the accounts were merged. Both accounts are free Dropbox accounts. Can I regain access to the old account? Would I have to subscribe to do so?
- Mark
Hi ljacques1
Unfortunately if its over 12 months since you last logged in the account will have been deleted for inactivity. That is why you are being asked to sign up for a new account - there is no old one and all data in it has been removed.Sorry
Thanks, Mark. I was afraid the old account had been deleted. I'm puzzled, though, because the newer account is still active and I had not accessed it for many years either (I think 2018?).
