How to Automatically Delete Dropbox Files on a Schedule

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Dropbox is full of great features that make our file life a lot easier. You can save pictures or files and rest assure that Dropbox will keep them nice and safe for you. If you have the free account, there is only so much you can do. If you want more, you’ll need to upgrade.

Delete Dropbox Files on a Schedule

For example, if you want to delete Dropbox files on a schedule, that’s completely out of the question. Or, is it? Dropbox may not have this feature, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t add it? All you need is a web app called Finesse and what’s even better is that it’s free.

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How to Schedule Deleting File in Dropbox

Once you’re at Finesse, you’re going to see a Login with Dropbox button at the top right. Click on the button and enter your Dropbox credentials. If you’re already signed into your account, it will just ask you for permission to access your Dropbox account.

When you’ve accessed the web app, you’re going to see three options on the left: Scheduled, Schedule, and History. Since it’s your first time, click on the Schedule option and you should now see all your Dropbox folders.

Click on the folder that has the documents you want to erase and then check the document. Right above where it says Your Files, is the Schedule button. Click on the date and time to the left of it and a calendar will appear.

Just look for the month and day you want to erase your files and click on it. The calendar will even go into 2018, so there is no limit as to how into the future you can delete your files. At the bottom of the calendar, you are going to see a clock icon that will let you set the time of the deletion.

Click on the arrows to the time you want, but don’t forget to click on AM or PM. Once you have everything setup, don’t forget to double check that everything is OK and then tap on the Schedule button.

How to Schedule a Dropbpx Document for Deletion

How to Automatically Delete Files from Dropbox

After that, you should be able to see the scheduled deletion along with the time and date. Even if you scheduled and you see that you made a mistake or you changed your mind, you can still make the necessary changes.  You can either click on the blue reschedule button, or you can click on the red Remove button.

Things to Keep In Mind

If you have a question about the web app such as when they are going to add more features, you can click on the blue circle on the bottom right. Scheduling your files to be deleted is convenient, but Finesse (unlike Dropbox) doesn’t have a restore feature.

Once your files are erased, they’re gone for good. Dropbox, on the other hand, saves your deleted files for 30 days. To recover the deleted files, you just have to go to the trash folder. If after using the web app, you want to see if you deleted a file or simply can’t find it, you can check by going to the History option.

Conclusion

As you can see the app is very easy to use and it won’t bombard you with too many features you might not even use. It’s still in its Beta version so it might not be as pretty as you’d like, but the company is planning on adding more features to make the app more interesting. Do you think that you are going to give the app a try? Leave a comment and let me know.

About The Author

  • Judy Sanhz

    I can never get enough of tech in general, whether it's Android or web apps but helping others solve their tech problems also brings great satisfaction. I carry a device wherever I go, and I'm always connected. Life without the Internet just sounds too scary to me. 🙂

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Judy Sanhz

I can never get enough of tech in general, whether it's Android or web apps but helping others solve their tech problems also brings great satisfaction. I carry a device wherever I go, and I'm always connected. Life without the Internet just sounds too scary to me. :-)

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