Manage and optimize

Monitor activity and generate reports

To stay informed of all activities in your Dropbox environment, you can access several types of reports in your account:

• Activity log

The Activity section of the admin console provides detailed insights into your team’s activities, which you can then download as reports. In this section you can view the activity that takes place in your Dropbox environment. You can filter by Date, Activities, People, Participants, and Content type. Once you’ve set filters, you can create and export a CSV of the report, which will be saved in a Dropbox folder called Dropbox Business reports.

Learn more about viewing your team’s activity and creating reports.

• External sharing report

Find the external sharing report in the Security section of the admin console. This report shows which files, folders, and shared links are shared with people outside your team, and details on how they were shared, including:

- Items shared—type, size, and path
- Security—access level and whether they’re protected by password or expiration
- Sharing—who shared the content, when, and with whom
- Activity—whether content was viewed or edited

To download an external sharing report, click Create report to create an external sharing report from the external sharing tab on the Security page. The report will be saved in a Dropbox folder called Dropbox Business reports.

Learn more about monitoring your team sharing activity and downloading an external sharing report.

• Data classification report

Data classification is available to teams on Dropbox Standard who have purchased the Security add-on, and to teams on Dropbox Business Plus, Advanced, or Enterprise. However, this feature is unavailable for some teams with an extremely large number of files. If you see a notification that data classification is unavailable for your team, contact support.

Data classification helps teams comply with corporate and government regulations by enabling admins to automatically track and report on personal information stored in team folders, team member folders, and shared folders. This includes data types like credit card, passport, bank account, and social security numbers. You can find the classification report in the Classification section of the admin console.

To create a report, select the content you’d like to scan, the info types you’d like to scan for, and click Create report. A .csv file will be generated, and you’ll receive an email notification when it’s ready to view or download from the Dropbox Business reports folder in your admin account.

Learn more about Dropbox data classification reports.

• Member data report

Member data reports show how much information each team member has access to, and how much storage space they’re using. The report lists each team member in a single row and can be generated from the Members section of the admin console. It will be saved in a Dropbox folder called Dropbox Business reports.

Learn more about creating a member data report.

• Member access report

Member Access Reports help admins identify storage patterns by showing the specific paths individual team members can access. The report includes columns for Path, Folder type, Internal or external, Folder owner, Size, and Number of files. You can generate this report for a single member in the Members section of the Admin Console, and it’ll be saved in the Dropbox Business reports folder in your Dropbox account.

Learn more about creating a member access report.

Explore advanced admin settings

Dropbox is designed to empower admins with the tools and knowledge to optimize, secure, and manage Dropbox deployments across their organization. This section goes beyond basic setup, exploring advanced user management, security protocols, and automation techniques that boost productivity while ensuring data compliance.

• Encryption options

Dropbox is built to safeguard your most valuable files, and your account security is our top priority. To keep your files safe, Dropbox uses multiple layers of protection across a scalable, secure infrastructure.

Learn more about how Dropbox keeps your files secure.

• Advanced encryption

Dropbox’s advanced encryption system provides extra layers of security to protect your data. It uses unique team keys and a multi-layered key encryption approach for enhanced security.

Learn more about advanced encryption and how to activate it.

• Encrypted team folders

Encrypted team folders are team folders that are end-to-end encrypted. Only folder members have access to the encryption key, while excluding anyone else, including Dropbox. Admins can also create recovery keys for encrypted folders, in case of user access issues.

Learn more about encrypted team folders.

• File requests

Dropbox file requests make it easy to collect files from other people, even if they don’t have a Dropbox account. The files will appear in a folder you choose in your Dropbox account. Once received, you can share the folder and its content as needed.

Learn more about creating and managing file requests.

Note: By default, the destination folder for uploaded files is private. You can share the uploaded files by selecting a shared folder when you create the request, or by sharing the files or folder after files have been uploaded. Anyone with the email address can upload files directly to the associated Dropbox folder from their inbox by sending the files as email attachments. Only share it with people you trust.

• Device backups

Dropbox Backup lets you back up any file or folder on your computer’s home folder to the cloud. Once your files are backed up with Dropbox Backup, you can access them from dropbox.com/backup/all.

If you’re an admin for a team account, learn how to manage Dropbox Backup for your team.

• File recovery

With Dropbox, you can recover or restore deleted files and folders, so you don’t have to worry with those “uh-oh” moments.

Learn more about restoring or recovering deleted files or folders in Dropbox.

• Dropbox Rewind

Dropbox Rewind is lets you undo multiple changes at once, making it especially useful after major data-loss incidents, like a virus infecting your account.

Dropbox Rewind will undo:

• File edits, renames, additions, and deletions.

• Actions taken in shared folders, including those owned by other people.

• Actions taken in Dropbox team folders that you’re a member of and have edit access to.

Note: Admins can't log in as a team member to rewind their team member's account. They can only allow the team member to rewind their own account.

Learn more about Dropbox Rewind and how to use it.

• Off-boarding users and managing data

You can off-board team members by deactivating their accounts. Deleted team members immediately lose access to their Dropbox team accounts, including all files, folders, and Paper docs. After deleting a team member, admins can reuse the license and invite another person to the team. During the deletion process, you can choose where to transfer the former member’s data or delete it altogether.

When you delete a team member's account, several things happen:

• The team member loses access to the account, including all files and Paper docs

• Shared links with view access created by the team member are deleted, unless they’re web-based files, like Paper or Google docs

• Shared links with edit access created by the team member remain active

• Dropbox stops syncing files to the team member's computers and mobile devices

• The team member receives an email notifying them that an admin deleted their account and that they no longer have access

Learn more about off-boarding a team member and managing data.