Everything you need to manage your team in Dropbox is available in the admin console. The admin console saves time by displaying key insights into your team’s activities, and providing shortcuts to essential admin actions.
6 minute read
Dropbox admin console
Whether you’re new to the admin console, or you just haven’t visited it in a long time, it’s always helpful to get a tour. No matter the size of your team, you’ll find plenty of tools here to make your life easier.
Dropbox admin console features
The admin console has a number of features to help you make the most of your team’s Dropbox experience.
Security
Monitoring
Management
Enabling single sign-on (SSO) through the admin console
SSO makes logging in more quickly and more securely for your team. You can put the identity management provider you already trust in charge of authentication, and team members can access Dropbox without another password to manage.
Log in to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
Click Admin console in the left sidebar.
Click Settings in the left sidebar.
Under Security, click Single sign-on. Choose between making SSO optional, or required for your team.
If you’re using an existing identity provider, you can enter the sign-in URL and X.509 certificate from your provider.
Note: SSO integration is only available to Dropbox teams on an Advanced or Enterprise plan.
Navigate the console
The admin console is the central place for adding or removing users, monitoring activity, setting your team's security options, and managing your billing information. Depending on your admin tier, you’ll see different tabs within the admin console.
Help
Under the Help page, you can access resources like the help center or community forum, and for the Dropbox customer support team.
Dashboard
Available to all admins except the Billing and Content admins, the Dashboard allows you to gather insights on your team’s usage, the tools included in your plan, and provides an at-a-glance view of security.
Members
The Members page allows you to add or delete team members, monitor their activity, and take quick actions, like resetting passwords or adding another member as an admin.
Activity
With the Activity page admins can monitor their team’s activity in Dropbox.
You can also generate activity reports to view a record of every event over a specific date range. Reports can be created for individual users or entire team accounts.
Note: This function is only available to certain types of admins.
Team folders and other team content
The Content page allows certain types of admins to view, audit, create, and manage access to all team content.
You can also look at any team member’s member folders and any folders that you may not have access to as a non-admin Dropbox user.
By clicking Manage on any folder, admins can set who can access content, their permissions, and choose folder settings.
Groups
With the Groups page, team members can create lists of people who should have access to many of the same files and folders, which makes managing large groups of people much easier. Admins can ensure that the right team members have access to the right files and folders.
Billing
Under the Billing page, admins can add more licenses to their organization's Dropbox plan, update billing information, and review billing history.
Settings
Under the Settings page, certain types of admins can set team-wide settings on sharing, SSO or two-step verification, and more.
Security
On the Security page, the team admin and security admin can set alert policies and be alerted to any suspicious activity. With security alerts, admins will receive email notifications whenever suspicious behavior, risky activity, and potential data leaks are detected.
Security alerts are available to teams on Dropbox Standard or Business who have purchased the Security add-on, and to teams on Dropbox Business Plus, Advanced, or Enterprise.
Help
Under the Help page, you can access resources like the help center or community forum, and for the Dropbox customer support team.
Dashboard
Available to all admins except the Billing and Content admins, the Dashboard allows you to gather insights on your team’s usage, the tools included in your plan, and provides an at-a-glance view of security.
Members
The Members page allows you to add or delete team members, monitor their activity, and take quick actions, like resetting passwords or adding another member as an admin.
Activity
With the Activity page admins can monitor their team’s activity in Dropbox.
You can also generate activity reports to view a record of every event over a specific date range. Reports can be created for individual users or entire team accounts.
Note: This function is only available to certain types of admins.
Team folders and other team content
The Content page allows certain types of admins to view, audit, create, and manage access to all team content.
You can also look at any team member’s member folders and any folders that you may not have access to as a non-admin Dropbox user.
By clicking Manage on any folder, admins can set who can access content, their permissions, and choose folder settings.
Groups
With the Groups page, team members can create lists of people who should have access to many of the same files and folders, which makes managing large groups of people much easier. Admins can ensure that the right team members have access to the right files and folders.
Billing
Under the Billing page, admins can add more licenses to their organization's Dropbox plan, update billing information, and review billing history.
Settings
Under the Settings page, certain types of admins can set team-wide settings on sharing, SSO or two-step verification, and more.
Security
On the Security page, the team admin and security admin can set alert policies and be alerted to any suspicious activity. With security alerts, admins will receive email notifications whenever suspicious behavior, risky activity, and potential data leaks are detected.
Security alerts are available to teams on Dropbox Standard or Business who have purchased the Security add-on, and to teams on Dropbox Business Plus, Advanced, or Enterprise.
Help
Under the Help page, you can access resources like the help center or community forum, and for the Dropbox customer support team.
Track your team's activity
Activity logs are available in the admin console for certain admin roles of Dropbox teams. A team admin can see the team’s full activity, while other admins can only track the activity of a selected user.
Admins usually want to see their team’s activity to troubleshoot a problem or understand what happened and when. If a team member accidentally deleted a file, the admin can track the team’s activity to see when it happened and work to restore the file.
How can I access and filter the activity log?
Once you’re logged into your account, go to the admin console and click Activity.
You can filter the results of the activity log, for example, by entering a date range to view the activity for a specific time period. You can also export a report of your entire team’s activity by clicking Create report and entering a date range.
What is the Activity page?
The Activity page is the place where you can see a record of the actions taken by your team.
It helps admins see how often their team uses Dropbox, who’s using it, and for what. Admins can also use the Activity page to investigate and fix minor issues like accidental file deletions.
What kind of events and activities are shown in the activity log?
The activity log allows admins to view events and activities related to passwords, logins, admin actions, apps, devices, sharing, and membership.
What information can I see in the activity log?
Each entry in the activity log shows some additional information about member actions. The entries show:
Date and time: Exact date and time that an action took place
Member: Member who took the action
Activity: Details of the action itself
Location: Location from which the user initiated the action and the IP address of the machine they were using
How can I access and filter the activity log?
Once you’re logged into your account, go to the admin console and click Activity.
You can filter the results of the activity log, for example, by entering a date range to view the activity for a specific time period. You can also export a report of your entire team’s activity by clicking Create report and entering a date range.
What is the Activity page?
The Activity page is the place where you can see a record of the actions taken by your team.
It helps admins see how often their team uses Dropbox, who’s using it, and for what. Admins can also use the Activity page to investigate and fix minor issues like accidental file deletions.
What kind of events and activities are shown in the activity log?
The activity log allows admins to view events and activities related to passwords, logins, admin actions, apps, devices, sharing, and membership.
What information can I see in the activity log?
Each entry in the activity log shows some additional information about member actions. The entries show:
Date and time: Exact date and time that an action took place
Member: Member who took the action
Activity: Details of the action itself
Location: Location from which the user initiated the action and the IP address of the machine they were using
How can I access and filter the activity log?
Once you’re logged into your account, go to the admin console and click Activity.
You can filter the results of the activity log, for example, by entering a date range to view the activity for a specific time period. You can also export a report of your entire team’s activity by clicking Create report and entering a date range.
When should you ask for help?
As the team admin, you’re the first point of contact for your team. But what happens when you need help?
