How to delete a Dropbox account
IONOS editorial team4 mins
To delete your free Dropbox account, go to “Settings” and “General” in your account and select the deletion of your account and all stored data. If you use a paid subscription, you must cancel it beforehand. The complete deletion of all data always takes place after 30 days.
- Store, share, and edit data easily
- Backed up and highly secure
- Sync with all devices
Quick guide: Deleting a Dropbox account
- Log in to Dropbox.
- Go to your profile picture or profile initials.
- Go to “Settings” > “All files”.
- Select “Delete account”.
Dropbox is one of the most popular free cloud storage providers. With a Basic account, you get 2 GB of storage space. However, anyone who needs to back up photos or a lot of videos or regularly send large files will struggle to get by with the free storage option and will have to make a direct cloud storage comparison between, for example, Dropbox and Google Drive and quickly look around for more powerful Dropbox alternatives. Security concerns can also prompt users to switch.
Is Dropbox no longer an option for you? If you’re looking for storage with more security for your photos, videos and files, IONOS HiDrive Cloud Storage is an ideal alternative. Store data centrally, securely and independently of devices in certified data centers.
A step-by-step guide to deleting a Dropbox account
Whether the storage volume offered is not enough for you or you’re not convinced by the cloud security, to delete Dropbox, stick to the following steps.
After deleting your Dropbox account, you should also completely remove the app from your smartphone to free up occupied storage space.
Step 1: Go to the Dropbox login page and log in with your account details. There’s no option to delete the account in the app, so you’ll need to delete the account using the browser on both your desktop and smartphone.
Step 2: Go to your profile picture or initials on the top right of the account page.
Step 3: Select “Settings” and then go to “All files”.
Step 4: Now click on “Delete account”. You may need to confirm that you really want to delete the account. To do this, enter your password in the provided field and select an applicable — or any — reason for deleting the account.
Once you have selected the deletion of your Dropbox account, your stored data in Dropbox will be deleted after approximately 30 days. If you just want to delete certain data, be sure to select only those files for deletion.
Cancel subscription beforehand in case of paid subscription
If you’ve been using Dropbox with a paid subscription, you must first cancel the subscription before closing your Dropbox account. You can also cancel the subscription in your account under “Settings”. There, go to “Subscription” and “Cancel subscription”. You will then automatically be downgraded to the free Basic account, which can be deleted as described.
If you use Dropbox Business, deletion is a bit more complex. First, you need to remove all Dropbox team members. Then, contact Support to downgrade the account to Basic. Then you can leave the team and delete the account as standard.
What happens to stored data after deletion?
When you delete a Dropbox account, all data stored in Dropbox will be lost 30 to 60 days after deletion. So, be sure to back up your data externally to a storage device or another cloud service. Deleted data can only be recovered in Dropbox with a business account, so your data is usually irretrievably lost 30 days after deletion.
It’s basically recommended to always follow the 3-2-1 backup rule for your data when using Dropbox or any alternative cloud provider for backups. This states that you should make at least three copies or backups of your important private or business data — two of which should be on external storage media, with one being in a protected, remote location (e.g., a cloud).
