What is locked state for teams?
This article describes a status applicable to some Dropbox team accounts.
Note: We’re rolling out a new locked state experience. Before reading this article, check that it applies to your experience of locked state.
If you click on this link and see a page that says, You’re about to cancel Dropbox for teams and disband the [Team name] team, the information in this article doesn’t apply to your team and you should read this article instead.
If you see a page that says, Choose what to do with team files and accounts, then the information in this article applies to your team.
Note: If an admin doesn’t choose what to do with the team account within a certain timeframe, the team account may be deleted automatically. Admins will always be notified by email before their team account is deleted automatically.
How do I know if my team is in locked state?
You’ll know your team account is in locked state because you’ll see red notification banners at the top of the page on dropbox.com and you’ll have limited functionality across Dropbox.
In locked state:
- Your files won’t sync.
- You won’t be able to create or upload any new files and folders.
- You‘ll be able to view and download files and folders in your Dropbox account but you won’t be able to edit them.
- Features such as inviting new members, suspending members, and managing groups will be disabled.
- If you're on Dropbox Business, Business Plus, or enrolled in beta access on Dropbox Standard or Advanced, all signature features will be disabled on dropbox.com and the Dropbox mobile app.
How to get out of locked state
If you’re a team member, you can:
- Contact your admin and ask them to purchase or renew your team's subscription.
- Leave your team, which will impact what content you can access.
If you're an admin, you may have the following options available:
After your team enters has been in locked state for a certain period of time, admins and members will start to receive emails notification to let them know how much time they have to take one of the above actions. If no admin chooses one of these three options within that timeframe, the team account will be deleted automatically.
Note: Admins will be notified by email before their team account is deleted automatically.
Admins: Choose what to do if your team is in locked state
To upgrade your subscription:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Review options in the red banner at the top of your screen.
- Click the blue Keep Dropbox for teams button.
- Note: If you don’t see this option, your team isn’t eligible to renew or purchase a team subscription.
- Fill in your billing information.
Note: Before upgrading, remove users who don't need access to the team content to avoid paying for unnecessary licenses. You should also cancel any nonessential pending invitations.
Note: After upgrading, you’ll need to reinvite any members who may have left your team while it was in locked state. These members won’t rejoin the team until they accept the invite.
When you disband your team:
- All team members and admins get a Dropbox Basic account which contains their personal folder.
- The content that was in the team space is placed into shared folders, owned by the team admin who triggered the team disband. All users who previously had access to this content, including admins, team members, and external collaborators, continue to have access to the shared folders.
- To prevent team members and other admins from keeping access to content that was in the team space, it’s easiest to convert their account to a Basic account before triggering the team disband. Alternatively, admins can choose to unshare specific files and folders before or after the team disband.
- Replay and Capture content won’t be accessible after the team disbands.
Additionally, once a team disbands, the following happens:
- The team structure is deleted.
- Anyone granted access to shared folders within team folders keep their permissions, so they can view and interact with the content within.
- Pending invites are deleted.
- Suspended users are deleted.
- Content from deleted team members will be permanently lost unless an account transfer has been completed.
- Archived folders are unarchived and the team admin that triggered the team disband owns them.
- Deleted files and folders can't be restored.
- Pending signature requests are canceled.
- Signed documents can’t be edited, but can still be viewed or downloaded by all users who previously had access to the team folder.
- Team members maintain ownership of signature templates that they created.
- Signature templates will be locked. Purchasing Dropbox Essentials, Business, or Business Plus will unlock and restore the use of templates.
To disband your team:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Review options in the red banner at the top of your screen.
- Click Cancel Dropbox and disband my team.
- Select the option Save files and move to individual accounts.
- Check the boxes next to:
- I understand that disbanding or deleting the team is permanent. The [Team name] team will no longer exist.
- I understand that I will lose the remaining days of my free team trial.
- Note: This only shows if you’re on a free team trial.
- Click Confirm.
Your team will be logged out when the disbandment is complete.
When you delete your team account, everything owned by the team is permanently deleted and can’t be restored. This includes all:
- Team member accounts
- Admin accounts, including the admin who triggered the team deletion
- Content owned by the team, including shared folders
- Note: If your team account is deleted because of inaction by team admins, external collaborators with access to a team-owned shared folder will receive an automated email telling them that the folder will be deleted soon. To give external collaborators time to save any content which may belong to them, externally-shared folders will have their deletion delayed. If your team prefers to delete all shared folders immediately, without giving any notice to external collaborators, a team admin should trigger the team deletion manually by following the steps below.
- Personal folders
- Team metadata
To delete your team account while it’s in locked state:
- Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
- Click Review options in the red banner at the top of your screen.
- Click Cancel Dropbox and disband my team.
- Select the option to Delete all files and all accounts.
- Check the boxes next to:
- I understand that disbanding or deleting the team is permanent. The [Team name] team will no longer exist.
- I understand that I will lose the remaining days of my free team trial.
- Note: This only shows if you’re on a free team trial.
- Click Confirm.
This triggers the team deletion process. You’ll receive an email when the team deletion process is complete.
