RECOVER DELETED FILES—DROPBOX

Redesigning the full experience of recovering deleted files for mobile.

Introduction

Recovering Deleted Files for Mobile Previews

As an intern for the Core Mobile Previews Team, I had the opportunity to work on two projects, one of which involved redesigning the full mobile experience of recovering deleted files for 700,000 weekly active mobile users in Dropbox.

Mobile Previews Team owns the experience of viewing files and actioning on those files from the mobile devices across both IOS and Android. It’s the most frequent core action for users with 16.6M weekly active users across all of Dropbox.

I delivered production-ready designs, redesigned mobile-web experience into a native mobile experience, collaborated with cross-functional partners, created rapid prototypes, and conducted research.

CONTEXT

What is Recover Deleted Files?

Recover Deleted Files is a feature within Dropbox that lets users restore accidentally deleted files within 30 days, whether deleted by themselves or by members in a shared folder.

Main problems

Dropbox mobile users struggle with file recovery due to slow loading process, poor user experience, and low discoverability, which is leading to low usage of the feature.

Today’s mobile feature is built on top of a mobile-web experience. This experiencing is leading to slower performance and sign-in experience for many users. The overall user-experience is also archaic, which is leading to outdated design systems use and poor user experience.

Today’s experience / RECOVER DELETED FILES FEATURE

research

In my research, I discovered that the experience was lacking in many core features that can potentially increase the ease of recovering deleted files for both shared team users and individual users.

The top issues revolved around rich previews, discoverability, admin file tracking, and multi-select files.

In my research, I discovered that the experience was lacking in many core features that can potentially increase the ease of recovering deleted files for both shared team users and individual users.

I audited the current interactions of our experience to identify pain points

Pain points revolved around the lack of affordances for multi-select. Restoring individual files is especially frustrating due to a poor UX that forced users to recover files in bulk, instead of a single file select. The cluttered layout of the screens also adds to the chaos, reducing usability.

HYPOTHESIS

Based on my research findings, I formed a set of hypotheses focused on increasing the number of weekly file recoveries, creating clarity in the experience, and increasing retention for team users.

iteration

Iterating on this complex feature with many components, I focused on key functional needs and fit that into our native mobile experience.

Step 01: Improving the file interaction experience 

Previous multi-select interaction had little affordance to indicate that users can select multiple files. Additionally, the meta data was scattered around in a messy layout which made the experience visually jarring and inconsistent with the whole native mobile experience. 

ideation / MULTI-FILE RECOVERY SELECTION

Step 02: Creating a richer file preview for easier file identification by leveraging existing design systems.

Research showed users often struggled to identify their files and sometimes had to restore duplicates just to see what they were. I improved file previews by adding thumbnails for each file type, making files easier to recognize before recovery. A familiar experience taken from Dropbox’s file previewing frameworks.

Additionally, I also narrowed down the metadata need for users to identify the file details through a dynamic action sheet and an intuitive layout.

Step 03: Exploring quick navigation patterns to recently restored files

The issue with having many nested folders is that it can take forever to get to the files. Furthermore, it can be even harder when users are recovering a file and they’re forced to recall the original location of that file. Quick snackbar navigation allows users to quickly navigate to the original location of that file so that they can quickly act on that file.

I explored ways of inserting the experience through snackbar components, through a quick 2 step process for multiple restorations. 

impact

Big shifts in the company means big shifts in project priority.

As I was preparing for user testing, I learned that the project would be put on hold in order to prioritize other projects. That meant taking a pause on my first internship project.

However, in just four weeks, I delivered exploratory designs, high-fidelity prototypes, and key research insights while working closely with my PMs and engineers—ensuring they would be ready for testing and shipping once the project is resumed.

Final Design

Designed an experience that allows users to easily find and restore the correct deleted files in a way that is native to mobile.

The first MVP tackled key pain points by introducing a native mobile experience with smoother and more familiar experience by bringing in richer file previews for faster identification, improved metadata layout, and intuitive file selecting recovery experience, as well as an option to permanently delete files.

Additionally, I pushed to to bring more engagement inside the Homepage by using the Recents in the Homepage as a way to resurface the newly restored files.

final designs / single RECOVERY & recently recovered

final designs / rich file preview & permanently delete files

final designs / restoring multiple files 

While developing the MVP, I also explored future product opportunities such as a search functionality and notification file tracking for notifications to further improve the product experience.

Added search functionality within restore deleted files that are surfaced by file types, dates, and file names, allowing users to quickly sort through thousands of deleted files.

Activity Tab notifications serves as a way to surface when a file gets deleted by a team member for admins to see and take action on, giving them direct link access to the location of the file.

final designs / search capability

final designs / Activity tab for shared folders

Various entry points for recover deleted files for improved discoverability

Based on previous usability testings, 3 out of 4 users tested did not immediately find the location for file recovery. Instead, they instinctively looked in proximity of folder/file locations inside the file tabs. 

I explored various entry points for recovering deleted files from folder selections in the home page, and quick folder actions in file tabs.

Even though the project was put on hold, I’m proud of the progress and impact I made in a short time. The experience taught me how to adapt quickly and better scope complex product work for my future projects.

When the project was deprioritized, I quickly shifted gears and focused on completing production-ready designs so the work could move forward when needed. This experience taught me the value of staying flexible and making the most of changing circumstances

When facing complex product challenges, I made it a priority to break the work into focused, achievable steps. I mapped out dependencies and identified which features would have the most immediate impact, allowing me to prioritize effectively even as priorities shifted