Accidentally deleted files

I was given access to a shared Box folder with an organization. Their instructions were to download the folders I needed, make my changes, and then reupload as a new folder

I used the Box app for MacOS. I dragged the folders I needed onto my computer and made my changes. (More specifically, I dragged the containing folders onto my computer, realized I copied too many files, and put the ones I didn't need in the trash. The structure was like AuthorSubmissionsXXX/Edited_Files plus several other folders in AuthorSubmissionsXXX. Edited_Files was the one I was supposed to work with). Then today I went back to reupload the folders and all of the AuthorSubmissionsXXX that I had copied were gone! Did dragging them out of Box actually delete them from the server? That is not the behavior I expect when dragging from one volume to another! (I have been using Macintosh computers since the 1990s--if you dragged a file from a floppy drive or a server onto your hard drive, it would copy the file over, it would not disappear from where you dragged it from)

I was able to "restore" them from my Trash and put them back on Box. But still, I am now missing all the original Edited_Files folders. I was supposed to give the organization a new folder with my changes Edited_Files_WD, not save over them. Is there any way to restore these folders?

France

February 09, 2022 20:54

Hi William,

Welcome to the Box Community!

Have you carefully checked your Trash in Box.com to see if the deleted files are in there? You can user the filter in your Box Trash "Items I deleted" displays all items you have deleted, regardless of who created or owns the item.

Looking at your workflow when you dragged items out of Box Drive, yes this is expected behavior and one of the noticeable changes for Mac users running Box Drive on macOS with Apple File Provider Extensions (FPE). This was specifically mentioned in this article.

Items (files or folders) dragged and dropped from a user's local drive into Box are moved instead of copied. Similarly, items dragged and dropped from the Box folder to user’s local drive are moved instead of copied and hence deleted from Box.

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