Full Guide to Use Dropbox Rewind to Restore to Previous Version

Dropbox Rewind helps you to restore data to any version that Dropbox keep, and we will show you the detailed steps about Dropbox Rewind usage.

By @Ailsa Last Updated October 10, 2024

What Does Rewind This Folder Mean in Dropbox?

Dropbox Rewind is paid feature for the Dropbox Backup plan, or Dropbox Plus, Family, Professional, Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise plans, which allows you to disposable revert a lot of changes of files or folders on the website or Dropbox Backup to their existing locations, not new location, if you meet virus attacks or other unexpected things using the Rewind this folder option. Therefore, Dropbox Rewind can restore all the data to the previous state in a simple way and it’s not available in Dropbox for mobile apps.

To make it simple for you while using Dropbox Rewind, here we will provide detailed instructions for your reference. Let’s get started to get more details.

Keys Information of Dropbox Rewind

Before using Dropbox Rewind, there is something you should be aware of, you can only undo the following changes:

  • File edits, renames, additions, and deletions.
  • Any actions to shared folders, even if it belongs to others.
  • Any actions to team folders that you are a member of and have edit permissions.

However, Dropbox Rewind cannot undo anything for these:

  • Changes before your oldest version history in Dropbox.
  • Dropbox permanently deleted files.
  • Any changes to Dropbox Paper docs.
  • Any changes to files or folders belong to other teams.
  • File history.
  • File or folder membership changes.

There are some other solutions if you get something wrong and don’t want to undo any changes:

  1. Check Deleted Files on your Dropbox website to find Dropbox missing files.
  2. Check the Dropbox version history to only revert the file to the previous state.
  3. Remove viruses and get back your files to perform Dropbox ransomware protection.

How to Use Dropbox Rewind?

To restore data to the previous version, you can use Dropbox Rewind to revert files to the previous state on the Dropbox website and Dropbox desktop app. Just get useful information separately.

Dropbox Rewind on Dropbox Website

Rewind some specific Dropbox folder

1. Please log in to your Dropbox account.

2. Then tap the three-dots icon at the end of the folder you want to rewind, and select Activity > Rewind this folder.

3. Then hit the Try Rewind button to start restoring Dropbox data.

4. Select a day to restore, and hit Continue. Just choose the day before the incident.

5. Choose the change you want to restore from the Find tune list.

6. Press the Rewind button, and it will show you rewinding to an earlier time.

Rewind Dropbox Entire Account

To rewind everything in your Dropbox account, you can follow the steps below:

1. Please log in to your Dropbox account, located in the Dropbox root folder.

2. Then tap the three-dots icon next to Organize, and select Rewind this folder.

3. Follow the same steps to rewind some specific folders to rewind the entire Dropbox folder.

Tips: There is some information you should know, which is the Dropbox Rewind feature can only restore your personal files and shared folders, not include the team members, if you’re using the Dropbox team account to rewind the entire Dropbox account. To rewind team folders, you have to repeat the steps to rewind some specific folders to restore all team folders.

Try Dropbox Rewind on Dropbox Backup

If you want to rewind this folder for your Dropbox Backup, you can try the following steps:

1. Please navigate to your Dropbox Backup website.

2. Tap Backups > Manage backups.

3. Choose the backup you’d like to restore on the left.

4. Tap Rewind backup to restore a previous version of your backup.

5. Hit Try Rewind in the right sidebar.

6. Click on the graph to pick a day and press Continue.

7. From the Fine tune list, select the earliest change to rewind this folder in Dropbox and click the blue line below it.

8. All file changes above the blue line will appear greyed out—this means they’ll be unavailable after the rewind.

9. Hit Continue > Rewind. Wait for a while and you will receive an email once the Rewind is complete.

Try Dropbox Rewind on Dropbox Desktop app

Rewind Dropbox Backup

Note: Please ensure you have installed the Dropbox desktop app first on your computer.

1. Please open the Dropbox Backup service on your Dropbox desktop app, choose PC, and hit the Rewind backup button.

3. Now you will be led to the Dropbox Backup window.

4. Tap the Try Rewind button.

5. Select the date to rewind this folder in Dropbox, and hit Continue.

6. Choose the changes you want to keep from the current backup directory.

7. Hit Continue > Rewind to rewind Dropbox.

Rewind some specific folders on the Dropbox desktop app

1. Please open the Dropbox desktop app, and double-click the Dropbox icon on the taskbar.

2. Right-click the folder you want to rewind in the Dropbox folder and select Rewind.

3. You will be led to the Dropbox website and hit the Get Rewind button on the right panel if you’re a free user, upgrade to use Dropbox Rewind. Or follow the steps on dropbox.com to use Dropbox Rewind if you own the paid Dropbox plan.

How to Manage Dropbox Rewind Settings for your Organization

Sometimes, you have to set up the Dropbox Rewind settings to protect data well, or prevent important data from losing, here we will show you how to manage it:

1. Please sign in to your Dropbox Admin account on the website.

2. Hit Admin Console on the left side, and click Settings then.

3. Click Rewind in the Content section.

4. Tap the context menu and select Everyone on your team or only team admins.

Tips: Everyone on your team means that every team member will be able to rewind their personal folders, shared folders, as well as team folders. And Only team admins, which means that you have disabled the settings for team members to restore any folders in their Dropbox account. By the way, only the team members can rewind their own Dropbox accounts.

Dropbox Rewind FAQs

Q1: What to do after Dropbox Rewind?

A: Check if the Dropbox files and folders are the correct versions that you want to restore. Wait patiently while performing Dropbox Rewind and do not make any changes before completing.

Q2: Does Dropbox allows me to undo Rewind?

A: Of course, you can undo the changes that Dropbox Rewind has done, just like restoring to Dropbox's previous version.

Q3: Can I Rewind all my team folders at once?

A: No one can do this, including the Dropbox Admins, you can only restore a team folder at a time. If you want to restore all team folders at once, you have to contact Dropbox support.

Q4: Why I don’t see the correct files or folders after Dropbox Rewind?

A: Your files or folders have been permanently deleted, or only have view-only permission, or which are not shared.

How to Restore Dropbox to A Previous Date?

Although you can use Dropbox Rewind to restore data to the previous version, it will lose all the changes outside the Dropbox version history if you do not create backups for them. Because Dropbox only keeps limited versions. Thus, it has some disadvantages while protecting files and restoring files. What should you do?

It’s highly recommended to try the free cloud backup service - CBackup, which allows you to backup Dropbox files automatically with Scheduler settings and keep unlimited backup versions so that you can restore Dropbox to any version to minimize data loss.

Here is how to backup and restore Dropbox data safely with CBackup:

Part 1. Backup Dropbox Data Automatically

1. Please download the CBackup desktop app, create a free CBackup account, and sign in.

2. Tap Storage > Dropbox > Authorize Now subsequently. Then choose another cloud (Google Drive for example) to add.

3. Hit Backup > Backup Public Cloud to Public Cloud.

4. Tick Dropbox as the source, and choose Google Drive as the destination. (Optional) Hit Settings > Scheduler to enable Dropbox automatic backup.

5. Press the Start Backup button to back up Dropbox on regular basis, like hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly.

Part 2. Restore Dropbox to Any Previous Version

Besides, CBackup allows you to restore Dropbox to any backup version in the original location or a new location.

1. Click Tasks on the left control panel, and find the backup task you created for Dropbox.

2. Tap the three-dots icon at the end of the Dropbox backup task, and choose Versions.

3. Find the correct Dropbox version you created, and hit Restore. You will be led to the CBackup web app, and find the backup task and choose the backup version you want to restore.

4. Hit Select Files to choose a backup version, and hit Select Path to restore Dropbox to the original location or other location.

5. Press the Start Restore button to restore Dropbox to any backup version easily and safely.

Tips: In Settings (bottom left), you can set up Duplicate File and Email Notification. If you meet duplicate files, you can choose to Always keep the latest version according to the modification time, Replace all, Skip all, or Keep both files; Besides, you could enable email notification to get an email after the task is finished.

Now, you can minimize data loss and keep your work continuous. Besides, CBackup has the ability to protect your files online:

Backup and sync files to Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. without any file size and transfer speed limitations.
Combine two or more cloud drives into one huge backup space to store unlimited backups.
Offers 5GB of free cloud storage space of CBackup Cloud, and you can expand to 1TB, 5TB, etc.

The End

Now, you know everything about Dropbox Rewind, just follow the corresponding steps to rewind Dropbox, Dropbox rewind this folder can restore files and folders to the previous version as long as it’s in the Dropbox version history. If you want to keep unlimited Dropbox backup versions and own unlimited free cloud storage, it’s strongly recommended to try CBackup to make it.