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

ivan3278's avatar
ivan3278
Explorer | Level 3
8 months ago

Is it possible to access files on my hard drive that I no longer have email access to?

In the past, I worked at a company that uses dropbox using company emails. Lately I was scanning my storage hard drive to make space and found that I still have GBs of files I worked on back then. I was thinking of putting some of this work onto a new portfolio, but I can't open these files because I no longer have the work email. Is there anyway I can use these old desynced files on my hard drive?

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    8 months ago

    ivan3278 wrote:

    Does this just mean I didn't actually download these files onto my computer?


    Correct. When you had access to the account/files, those files were marked as Online-only, meaning they didn't actually exist on your local drive. They were just pointers to the online files, which would download automatically when you tried to open one. Since you're no longer connected to the account, you can no longer access or download those files.

     


    ... is there a way to browse by downloaded files only?

    No.

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Why wont it open? What is the error message?

    • ivan3278's avatar
      ivan3278
      Explorer | Level 3

      They all have the x symbol on them, and trying to open an illustrator file says

      Although I have to admit there are a few files I can open that don't have this symbol. Does this just mean I didn't actually download these files onto my computer? and the these icons represent that they exist in the folder at the time?

      If this is the case, is there a way to browse by downloaded files only? this file directory has a massive folder structuring system and I don't want to look through each folder to see which ones I can actually use haha... 😅

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

        ivan3278 wrote:

        Does this just mean I didn't actually download these files onto my computer?


        Correct. When you had access to the account/files, those files were marked as Online-only, meaning they didn't actually exist on your local drive. They were just pointers to the online files, which would download automatically when you tried to open one. Since you're no longer connected to the account, you can no longer access or download those files.

         


        ... is there a way to browse by downloaded files only?

        No.

About Security and Permissions

Start a discussion in the Dropbox Community forum to get help with your account security and permissions. Find support from Community members.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!