Deleted file recovery and version history

Lost documents, accidental edits or deleted work? Dropbox helps you restore and recover deleted files.

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Go from idea to done with Dropbox

Store and share files. Sign and send documents. All with Dropbox.

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For personal use

Plus

US$9.99/month
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  • For 1 person
  • Stay connected across all devices
  • 30 days to restore deleted files
  • Edit PDFs and get signatures
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For teams and professionals

Standard

US$15/user/month
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or purchase now
  • For 1 person or more
  • Stay connected across all devices
  • 180 days to restore deleted files
  • Edit PDFs and get signatures
  • Brand your files to share
  • Password protect files
  • Get team folders for organisation

For companies

Advanced

US$24/user/month
Try for free
or purchase now
  • For 3 people or more
  • Stay connected across all devices
  • 1 year to restore deleted files
  • Edit PDFs and get signatures
  • Brand your files to share
  • Password protect files
  • Get team folders for organisation
  • Compliance tracking
  • Single sign-on

Easily recover deleted files

Accidentally deleted an important file? Unexpectedly wiped out everything? Do not worry – Dropbox saves all your lost files for 30 days (or longer, depending on your plan). Make deleted file recovery simple, with no other data recovery tools or file recovery software required. There is no need to talk to tech support either – you can restore deleted files yourself at dropbox.com.

Data that is accidentally deleted from remote storage devices like USB flash drives, memory cards and external hard drives can be difficult to retrieve. But with Dropbox file recovery, you can always get your data back.

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View version history for any file type

Accidental file changes and deletions happen. With Dropbox, they’re easy to fix. All you have to do is access your version history and undo any changes that have been made. 

From PDFs to Word docs, Dropbox keeps version history for all your files, so you can easily restore any file to an older version.

Explore version history
User restoring an earlier version of a file

Be notified about file changes

Any time a team member moves or deletes a file in a shared team folder, we’ll confirm with them to prevent files from being lost. And if they do accidentally delete or update a file in a shared folder, you’ll receive desktop and email notifications. You can then follow the recovery process to quickly bring any Dropbox files you’ve deleted back to life.

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Rewind your entire account

Undo accidental overwrites and edits, recover deleted files or restore your files from virus attacks or ransomware threats. With Dropbox Rewind, you can take a whole folder or even your entire account back to any time in the last 30 days (or longer for users on Dropbox Standard and team plans). 

You can also turn on computer backup so key folders on your Mac or Windows PC back up automatically.

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User restoring a deleted folder using Dropbox Rewind
A Dropbox user restores a lost file with the version history and file recovery features.

‘I've had a great experience using Dropbox. The version history and file recovery features are especially useful when I need to restore an older file. Overall, it's a reliable cloud storage solution for both personal and professional use.’

Read the full review
Thabiso M.Claims Administrator
01/03

Frequently asked questions

File recovery is a way of restoring or recovering lost data because of accidental edits or deletions. Typically, you can restore deleted files or folders, pieces of lost data or even an entire hard drive.

Recovering or restoring deleted files from Dropbox is simple. Go to the Deleted files page on dropbox.com, select the recoverable file or folder you’d like to bring back, then click Restore.

Dropbox keeps your deleted files and edits for up to 1 year, depending on your plan.

Find out more about how to restore or recover deleted files or folders in Dropbox.

The same way as an individual file. Go to the Deleted files page on dropbox.com, select the files or folders you want to recover, then click Restore. This lets you easily select and restore multiple recoverable files or folders at once.

If you need to recover lost files, first check the Deleted files page and version history in Dropbox. Depending on your plan and what happened, you may be able to restore a deleted file, recover an earlier version, or use Dropbox Rewind to undo a wider change.

Dropbox stores previous versions of your file for up to 1 year depending on your plan. Note: your file history doesn’t count toward your storage quota.

To see your file history on Dropbox, first search for the file name in your account on dropbox.com. Then, click ‘version history’ and select which version you’d like to preview. After you’ve seen the file edit history, you can choose to restore it or stay with the current version. This applies to all types of files.

Dropbox Rewind reverts your folders or even your entire account back to a specific time in the last 30 days (or longer for users on Dropbox Standard and team plans).

It restores everything in your Dropbox account to what your file system looked like before your mishap. Rewind makes it simple to fix big accidents or recover your files after a data disaster. Note: Rewind is not available for Basic users. Upgrade your plan to use Rewind.

Computer backup applies to entire folders on your PC or Mac. When you enable computer backup, files saved in folders like Desktop, Documents and Downloads are automatically and continuously synced to the cloud.

If you delete a file in your Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, it will also be deleted from your cloud backup. You can use file recovery to restore that deleted file.

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Cloud storage

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Online document storage

Manage documents online with simple and secure cloud storage

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File backup

Back up your files simply and securely to protect against data loss

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File permissions

Safeguard your work with powerful file permissions

Manage file permissions

Recover your files. Rest easy.

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