Learn about remote wipe

Remote wipe lets you delete your work Dropbox from all your linked devices - useful for lost devices.

If you lose a laptop, phone, or tablet and want to make sure sensitive company data stays where it should, just use our remote wipe feature. You'll use our website to unlink the connected device from your account and then have the option to erase your Dropbox from the device's hard drive.

Syncing will stop immediately. Dropbox will attempt to delete the entire Dropbox once the device connects to the internet and the Dropbox application is running. Of course, all your data will still be safely available on the Dropbox website. Remote wipe always applies when you unlink mobile devices and is optional when you unlink computers.

Your admin can use remote wipe to delete your work Dropbox from a linked device, but only you can delete your connected personal Dropbox.

Erasing Dropbox from your device

If you need to erase Dropbox from a linked device, just follow these instructions:

1. Sign in to the Dropbox website.
2. Click on your name at the top right of any page to open the account menu.
3. Select Settings.
4. On the Security tab, find the device that has the Dropbox you want to delete.
5. In the pop-up window, select the option Delete files from this computer the next time it comes online and then click Unlink.

Checking your device's remote wipe status

If you want to check the remote wipe status of a device,

1. Sign in to the Dropbox website.
2. Click on your name at the top right of any page to open the account menu.
3. Click Settings.
4. Choose the Security tab
5. In the Delete in progress section, you'll see the device and its Device status.