What Dropbox's terms say about your data

Who owns the data the customer puts in?

The customer · covers files and other content users put in Dropbox ("Your Stuff"), every plan

1. Headline Every plan covers files and other content users put in Dropbox ("Your Stuff"), every plan

   The customer

   These Terms don't give us any rights to Your Stuff except for the limited rights that enable us to offer the Services.

   Terms of Service (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The sentence before it reads "Your Stuff is yours." The Terms of Service bind team members too (they "continue to remain subject to these Terms"), alongside the Dropbox Services Agreement for the team. Same wording in the version effective 2027-01-01.

2. Supporting Every plan covers Customer Data on team plans (Dropbox Services Agreement 8.2)

   The customer^*

   Customer grants Dropbox only the limited rights that are reasonably necessary for Dropbox to deliver the Services.

   Dropbox Services Agreement (teams) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The DSA never says in so many words that the customer owns Customer Data; 8.1 says the Agreement does not grant Dropbox any Intellectual Property Rights in Customer Data. Customer ownership is our reading of those two clauses.

3. Detail Every plan covers Dash search results and AI answers (Output)

   The customer

   As between Dropbox and Customer, Customer owns Output.

   Service Specific Terms (Business, Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, Dash) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Service Specific Terms, Dash 4.2. Next sentence lets Dropbox review Output "for the sole purpose of enhancing and delivering the Services".

Does the vendor train AI on it?

Generative: opt-in. Other models: yes · covers customer content, generative AI models (Dropbox AI features and Dash); documents and metadata, non-generative models (search, sorting, organization, summaries)

1. Headline Every plan covers customer content, generative AI models (Dropbox AI features and Dash)

   Generative: opt-in

   We will not build generative AI models using customer content without consent.

   Dropbox AI principles (ai policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   A principles page, not a contract clause. No consent switch for training was found; the 2023 "Third-party AI" FAQ URL now redirects to the general Privacy Policy FAQ. The Trust Center AI page (browser-only, read from its embedded page data, quote not checkable by plain fetch) lists "No customer data used for third party model training" and a "90 day data retention period" for models behind Dropbox AI features.

2. Headline Every plan covers documents and metadata, non-generative models (search, sorting, organization, summaries)

   Other models: yes

   These models may be trained on your documents and metadata, and power features within Dropbox such as improved search relevance, auto-sorting and organization features, and document summaries.

   The Dropbox Privacy Policy: frequently asked questions (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Privacy Policy FAQ, section 3, which says it applies to all Dropbox users. No opt-out is described. The sentence before: "We may build models that identify keywords and topics from a given document." For teams, DSA 4.1 limits processing to what is needed "to deliver the Services"; these models power Dropbox features, so we read the two as consistent, not as a team exemption.

3. Supporting Every plan covers content connected to Dash

   Generative: opt-in

   We will not build generative AI models using your content without consent.

   Dropbox Dash security (ai policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

4. Detail Every plan covers Dash Answers questions and responses (manual review)

   Other models: yes^*

   If you use Dash Answers, we may manually review questions you ask and the responses you receive.

   The Dropbox Privacy Policy: frequently asked questions (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Next sentence: Dropbox "may then modify the machine learning models that power Answers". Scored yes for other models because review feeds model changes; whether that counts as training a generative model is not stated.

Does the vendor keep a right to use it aggregated, de-identified or as usage data?

Reserved · covers information Dropbox collects about users of individual plans

1. Headline Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers aggregate and anonymous data based on End Users' use of the Services (DSA 4.6)

   Reserved

   Customer agrees that Dropbox will have the right to generate aggregate and anonymous data based on End Users' use of the Services and this data is owned by Dropbox.

   Dropbox Services Agreement (teams) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Next sentence: Dropbox "may use this data for its business purposes during or after the term of this Agreement". It will not disclose it "in a manner that could reasonably identify Customer or its End Users".

2. Detail Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers aggregate and anonymous data, DSA version effective 2027-01-01

   Reserved

   Dropbox may use and share this data with third parties for its business purposes during or after the term of this Agreement (including without limitation to develop, support, and improve Dropbox's products and services and to create and distribute reports and other materials).

   Dropbox Services Agreement, new version effective 2027-01-01 (posted 2026-09-01) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   New in the 2027 DSA: "and share this data with third parties". The current DSA says only "use".

3. Headline Basic, Plus, Essentials covers information Dropbox collects about users of individual plans

   Reserved

   In certain cases where we no longer need data to be attributable to an individual, we will de-identify the data.

   The Dropbox Privacy Policy: frequently asked questions (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Example given: "we use de-identified customer feedback to improve our products and services." Individual plans have no DSA; the Privacy Policy and its FAQ are the only source.

What can the customer export, and who can run it?

• With Data Governance Add-On on Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise: Part of it by an admin through an admin screen (covers content a member created or modified, on legal hold)

1. Headline Basic, Plus, Essentials covers files and folders in the user's own account

   Everything by any member through a self-serve screen or the API^*

   You can only download a folder if it's smaller than 250 GB (uncompressed) and contains fewer than 10,000 total files.

   How to download a file or folder from Dropbox (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Web downloads are capped per folder; the desktop app syncs everything and the API (files/download, download_zip, export, listed on the EU Data Act page) reads all files. "All" is our reading: no single whole-account export button exists.

2. Headline Business (Standard) covers a member's files, as seen by a team admin

   Part of it by an admin through an admin screen or the API^*

   You can only transfer a team member's files and folders to another member after the first member is deleted.

   How to transfer a deleted team member's files (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   On Business (Standard) admins cannot sign in as a member (that is Business Plus, Advanced and Enterprise). An admin reaches a member's private files by deleting the member and transferring the account, within the version history limit, or through team folders and the team API. Partial is our reading.

3. Headline Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers every member's files, by admin sign-in as member

   Everything by an admin through an admin screen or the API^*

   Team admins can sign in to the account of anyone on their team.

   Sign in as one of your Dropbox team members (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The article says the feature is available on Advanced, Business Plus and Enterprise; once signed in, the admin downloads as that member. Not available for Signatures or Replay. All is our reading.

4. Detail Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers what moves in an account transfer of a deleted member

   Part of it by an admin through an admin screen

   You can only transfer files from a team member's account within your version history limit.

   How to transfer a deleted team member's files (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Transferred: files, deleted files, previous versions, Paper docs owned, shared links, Signature documents. Not transferred: groups, Dropbox Backup content, datastores, external shared folders over 250,000 items.

5. Headline Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise with Data Governance Add-On covers content a member created or modified, on legal hold

   Part of it by an admin through an admin screen

   Placing a legal hold on a team member allows admins to view and export all the content that's been created or modified by that member.

   Manage legal holds for your Dropbox team account (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Needs the Data Governance Add-On. Cloud docs (Paper, Google Docs) and files only viewed are not held.

6. Supporting Every plan covers exportable data, where the EU Data Act applies

   Everything by any member through the API or a self-serve screen

   Please ensure you have successfully ported your data before deleting your account.

   EU Data Act Information (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The page lists the HTTP endpoints for switching (files/download, download_zip, export, list_folder and others) and the team endpoints.

How much history does the plan keep?

• With Extended Version History Add-on on Plus: 365 days (1 year), older data deleted (covers previous versions of files, with paid add-on)
• With Extended Version History or Data Governance Add-On on Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise: 3650 days (10 years), older data deleted (covers previous versions of files, with paid add-on)

1. Headline Basic, Plus covers deleted files (recovery window); version history matches

   30 days, older data deleted

   Dropbox Basic, Plus, and Family customers have 30 days.

   What happens when I delete a file from my Dropbox account? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Same article: "After this recovery window, all files will be deleted within 90 days in the normal course of operations." Current files are kept while the account exists.

2. Headline Essentials, Business (Standard) covers deleted files (recovery window); version history matches

   180 days, older data deleted

   Dropbox Professional, Standard, Essentials, and Business users have 180 days.

   What happens when I delete a file from my Dropbox account? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The US plans page calls the Standard tier "180 days to restore deleted files".

3. Headline Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers deleted files (recovery window); version history matches

   365 days (1 year), older data deleted

   Dropbox Advanced, Enterprise, Education, and Dropbox Business Plus users have 365 days.

   What happens when I delete a file from my Dropbox account? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

4. Detail Basic, Plus covers previous versions of files

   30 days, older data deleted

   Dropbox Basic, Plus, and Family customers have 30 days.

   Version history overview (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

5. Detail Essentials, Business (Standard) covers previous versions of files

   180 days, older data deleted

   Dropbox Professional, Essentials, Business, and Standard customers have 180 days.

   Version history overview (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

6. Detail Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers previous versions of files

   365 days (1 year), older data deleted

   Dropbox Business Plus, Advanced, and Enterprise customers have 365 days.

   Version history overview (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

7. Headline Plus with Extended Version History Add-on covers previous versions of files, with paid add-on

   365 days (1 year), older data deleted

   With the Extended Version History Add-on, you can extend this to one year.

   Extended version history (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

8. Headline Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise with Extended Version History or Data Governance Add-On covers previous versions of files, with paid add-on

   3650 days (10 years), older data deleted

   Customers on Dropbox Business, Business Plus, Standard, Advanced, or Enterprise get 10 years of version history with either the Extended Version History Add-On or the Data Governance Add-On

   Extended version history (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Ten years written as 3650 days.

9. Supporting Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers deleted files, recovery period table

   365 days (1 year), older data deleted

   Certain files may be permanently deleted earlier, if they're subject to a data disposition policy.

   How to restore or recover deleted files or folders in Dropbox (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   The table on this page gives 30 days (Basic, Plus, Family), 180 days (Professional, Essentials, Standard, Business) and 365 days (Advanced, Business Plus, Enterprise, Education).

How long is data kept after the account ends, and can it still be exported?

1. Headline Basic, Plus, Essentials covers files in an individual account the user deletes

   Kept 30 days, no export

   If you delete your account, we'll initiate deletion of this information after 30 days.

   Privacy Policy (privacy policy), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Next: "there might be some latency in deleting this information from our servers and back-up storage". The help article says content is "non-recoverable as soon as you delete your account", so the 30 days are not an export window. Cancelling a paid plan without deleting drops the account to Basic (2 GB): files stay, but over-quota files may be deleted.

2. Supporting Basic, Plus, Essentials covers files after an individual user deletes the account

   Deleted at once

   All content is non-recoverable as soon as you delete your account.

   How to delete your Dropbox account (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

3. Headline Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers Stored Data when a team agreement ends

   No fixed window; export on request^*

   Customer may, prior to termination, request reasonable additional time to export its Stored Data, provided that Dropbox may charge Customer for this extended access based on Dropbox's then-current standard fees

   Dropbox Services Agreement (teams) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   DSA 9.3(c), same in the 2027 version. No fixed number of days. A self-serve team that cancels goes into locked state (no sync, upload, preview or sharing) and "may be deleted automatically" with no stated timeframe; admins get email first. Export window true is our reading: extra time must be asked for before termination and may be charged.

4. Supporting Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers Stored Data after termination

   No fixed window; export on request^*

   Upon Termination of the Agreement and this DPA, Dropbox will delete Stored Data in Customer's account in a commercially reasonable period of time following receipt of an Administrator's request to do so prior to such termination.

   Data Processing Agreement (data processing addendum), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   DPA 7. Deletion is tied to an admin request; without one, the DPA sets no deadline.

5. Detail Business (Standard), Business Plus (Advanced), Enterprise covers team account after a cancelled team plan (locked state)

   No fixed window; export on request

   Teams that stay in locked state for too long may be deleted automatically.

   What is locked state for teams? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Options in locked state: renew, disband (members get Basic accounts with their personal folder; team content moves to shared folders owned by the disbanding admin; deleted files can't be restored), or delete the team (all accounts and content permanently deleted).

6. Detail Every plan covers data from apps connected to Dash, team in locked state

   Kept 30 days, no export

   If your Dropbox Dash team is in locked state, data from any apps you've added to Dash will be automatically deleted after 30 days.

   What is locked state for teams? (help article), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

7. Detail Basic covers free Basic accounts not used for a while, Terms effective 2027-01-01

   No fixed window; export on request

   you don't have a Paid Account and haven't accessed our Services for 6 consecutive months.

   Terms of Service, new version effective 2027-01-01 (posted 2026-09-01) (terms), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   One of the grounds on which Dropbox may terminate access with notice and a chance to export. The current Terms say 12 months.

What the read couldn't settle

• Plan names: the US plans page (signed out, 2026-10-23) sells Basic (free), Plus, Standard, Advanced and Enterprise. Help articles name Essentials, Business and Business Plus alongside them with the same limits, so Business is grouped with Standard and Business Plus with Advanced. Professional is grouped with Essentials (same 180-day tier). Family and Education are left out.
• Basic, Plus and Essentials are individual plans under the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, not the Dropbox Services Agreement; their ownership and AI answers come from consumer documents.
• AI training: the only consent-based promise is on principles pages (AI principles, Dash security), not in the DSA or Terms. The 2023 "FAQs about Dropbox AI and your privacy" URL (third-party AI toggle, 30-day deletion by partners) now redirects to the general Privacy Policy FAQ; no current help article on a Third-party AI setting was found. Recheck in a browser signed in.
• Trust Center AI Transparency (trust.dropbox.com) is browser-only; its text was read from embedded page data ("No customer data used for third party model training", "90 day data retention period") but cannot be quote-checked by a plain fetch. Marked js_only.
• The Privacy FAQ says non-generative models "may be trained on your documents and metadata"; no opt-out and no team carve-out is stated. Whether DSA 4.1 (process only to deliver the Services) narrows this for teams is our reading, not stated.
• New DSA, Terms and Privacy Policy take effect 2027-01-01: DSA 4.6 adds "and share this data with third parties" for aggregate data; Terms cut the free-account inactivity window from 12 to 6 months. Re-read both after that date.
• Team export: no whole-team export button is documented. Business (Standard) admins can't sign in as members; they reach private member files only by deleting and transferring the account. Whether locked-state teams can still download files is not stated (download is not in the list of disabled features).
• After a team cancels: no number of days before automatic deletion of a locked team is stated anywhere read.
• Retention headlines cover deleted files; version history uses the same windows (detail facts). After the window, files are deleted within 90 days.
• Help articles for cancel team subscription and downgrade team plan (both updated 2023-10-10) were read for context but not cited.

Documents

24 of 24 read. Each fact above names the one it comes from.

1. Dropbox Services Agreement (teams) Terms · version 2024-12-05 · read 2026-10-23
2. Dropbox Services Agreement, new version effective 2027-01-01 (posted 2026-09-01) Terms · version 2027-01-01 · read 2026-10-23
3. Service Specific Terms (Business, Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, Dash) Terms · version 2026-10-09 · read 2026-10-23
4. Terms of Service Terms · version 2025-01-07 · read 2026-10-23
5. Terms of Service, new version effective 2027-01-01 (posted 2026-09-01) Terms · version 2027-01-01 · read 2026-10-23
6. Data Processing Agreement Data processing addendum · version 2024-08-23 · read 2026-10-23
7. Privacy Policy Privacy policy · version 2025-05-30 · read 2026-10-23
8. The Dropbox Privacy Policy: frequently asked questions Privacy policy · version 2024-04-08 · read 2026-10-23
9. Dropbox AI principles AI policy · read 2026-10-23
10. Dropbox Dash security AI policy · read 2026-10-23
11. Trust Center: AI Transparency AI policy · read 2026-10-23 · renders with javascript only
12. FAQs about Dropbox AI and your privacy (2023 third-party AI FAQ) AI policy · read 2026-10-23 · moved since
13. How to restore or recover deleted files or folders in Dropbox Help article · version 2026-09-25 · read 2026-10-23
14. What happens when I delete a file from my Dropbox account? Help article · version 2025-10-16 · read 2026-10-23
15. Version history overview Help article · version 2025-02-20 · read 2026-10-23
16. Extended version history Help article · version 2026-01-30 · read 2026-10-23
17. How to download a file or folder from Dropbox Help article · version 2026-02-16 · read 2026-10-23
18. How to transfer a deleted team member's files Help article · version 2026-02-04 · read 2026-10-23
19. Sign in as one of your Dropbox team members Help article · version 2026-02-09 · read 2026-10-23
20. Manage legal holds for your Dropbox team account Help article · version 2025-11-17 · read 2026-10-23
21. EU Data Act Information Help article · version 2025-08-22 · read 2026-10-23
22. How to delete your Dropbox account Help article · version 2023-10-10 · read 2026-10-23
23. What is locked state for teams? Help article · version 2026-07-20 · read 2026-10-23
24. Dropbox plans (US, signed out) Plans page · read 2026-10-23