Restore Previous Versions and Deleted Files in Dropbox

Have you ever changed a file, and then seconds later realized that you still need the information in the original document? Or have you ever wished you could restore the last good version of a file that’s been corrupted? If your file was saved in Dropbox and the change happened in the past month, chances are you can still get the original file. Here’s how to restore any file, or an older version of a file, in your Dropbox account.

Time Travel, Today

With most of our data today stored on computers, the chances of losing something important is, unfortunately, very high. Dropbox is great for keeping your files synced between your computers and saved securely online, which makes it much less likely you’ll lose a file. But, what if you changed a file on any of your computers, and then realized you needed something from the older version? Or what if a file was corrupted on one computer? Odds are, by the time you realize the problem, it’ll have already been synced between your computers.

That’s where Dropbox Previous Versions comes in. From your Dropbox.com account dashboard, you can browse through your files and see everything saved in your Dropbox. You make a variety of changes to files right from the webapp, including restoring previous versions of your file. Turns out, Dropbox keeps the changes for all of your files saved for 30 days, even on free accounts. To get to the older versions, hover over the file you need to restore and click the blue arrow that will appear. Now, select Previous versions from the menu.

Select Previous Versions from the file menu in the Dropbox webapp

Either way, you’ll see the Dropbox Version History for that file open in your browser. You’ll be able to see every time that file has been changed in the past month, who changed it, and the size and time differences between the files. Click the magnifying glass icon to view the file, and if you want to restore an older version, select its bullet and click Restore on the bottom. Alternately, if you want to keep the current version and the older version, you could open the preview of the older version, then re-upload it to Dropbox with a different file name.

30 days of restore not enough for you? Dropbox offers unlimited undo history with its Packrat upgrade option as well. If you have a premium Dropbox account, you can add Packrat for an additional $39/year. Once this is activated, Dropbox will save all previous versions of all of your files, forever. Do note that this is not retroactive; you can’t add it today to get access to previous versions of files you changed 2 months ago. But, once it’s enabled, you won’t have to worry about deleting files at all.

Restore Deleted Files

You may notice that this only lets you access files you’ve changed, but doesn’t help if you’ve deleted the file or, worse yet, deleted a whole folder of important files. Don’t worry; Dropbox still has you covered. Just login to the Dropbox site again, and click the Show deleted files on the top of your online file explorer.

You’ll now see grey icons for the files and folders that you’ve deleted, either within the last month for most accounts or ever if you have the Packrat upgrade. You can browse through the folders and view files as normal, and if you need to restore the data, just open the file or folder’s menu and select Restore folder. Or, if you’re certain you never want the file again, you can permanently delete the data as well.

With these features, Dropbox is not just a great way to keep your files synced between your devices and the cloud, but it’s also a great way to protect yourself from, well, your own self. I’ve accidentally saved numerous documents on top of the old file instead of renaming the new file, only to realize days later when it’s time to submit the original essay. Both the built-in Windows Previous Versions tool and Dropbox’s Previous Versions have saved me so many times, that thankfully this has never been an actual problem. It’s always good to know you can go back and undo changes you’ve made to a file or undelete a deleted file if you need. With Dropbox, you can always know your data is saved online … including the changes you’ve made.

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Learn More About Dropbox Previous Versions

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