Will my photos get uploaded again if I move them?

Hi @Stephen! 

To gain a better understanding of where these files are coming from, it's helpful to find out where they're located in your account and how they were added. Please do the following:

Sign in to the Dropbox website and go to your Photos page:

https://www.dropbox.com/photos

Right-click on an unfamiliar photo or video and select "Show in Folder" from the menu. This will take you to the folder where the file is located. (Photos or videos are usually found in the "Camera Uploads" folder or a shared folder—read below for more information.) You can then check which user and device added this file to your account by right-clicking on the file and selecting "Previous versions".

Now that you have these pieces of information, please read below to check if either of the following situations explain the issue:

CASE A: The files are in the Camera Upload folder

When enabled, Dropbox's Camera Upload feature will automatically upload photos and videos from a camera, phone, tablet, SD card, or other media device connected to a computer running the Dropbox desktop app. Before uploading from one of these devices, a pop-up window will ask the user if he or she wants to use Camera Upload for that device. If the user chooses this option, photos and videos will be imported from that device to the Dropbox account associated with it. The user may only see this pop-up the first time a device is connected. Once a device has been approved for Camera Upload, the photos and videos from that device will be automatically uploaded to Dropbox every time that device is connected to the computer.

If the photos were uploaded to the Camera Uploads folder from a computer, it may mean that someone connected a device to your computer. For example, someone may have used your computer to charge their phone or connected a USB memory stick to transfer a file even without you being aware and clicked 'OK' on the Camera Upload message without realizing it. If they did this, their photos and videos would be uploaded to your account. You can fix this by deleting the photos and videos from your Dropbox account. This will not delete files from the device that uploaded the photos and videos or from any other Dropbox account.

If the files were uploaded to the Camera Uploads folder from a mobile device, it means that your Dropbox account is signed in to a mobile device with Camera Upload enabled. This could have happened if you forgot to sign out from a mobile device that did not belong to you. It's also possible that someone has access to your password and logged in to your account from their mobile device. You should make sure that your email account is secure and your Dropbox account has a strong, unique password. You should also review the devices linked to your account and unlink any that are unfamiliar to you:

https://www.dropbox.com/account/security

CASE B: The files are in a Shared Folder

Shared Folders are an easy way to share content with others. Anything that is placed in a shared folder is available to all of the members of that shared folder.

If the files are found in a shared folder, it means that one of the members of the shared folder added the files to that folder by mistake or because they wanted to share them with the other members. If you do not believe that these files should be in that shared folder, please reach out to the person who added them to suggest another location.

If neither of the situations above explains how these files appeared in your account, please send us the name and location of a few of the files that you believe are not yours but are in your account. Once we receive this information, we'll be able to investigate further and get back to you.

@Jeff, are you using iCloud to backup your files also? 

If your case, as we may have to investigate the origin of the issue, please write in to www.dropbox.com/support to figure out where the issue is coming from. 

Thanks!