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serafinalvarez's avatar
serafinalvarez
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago
Solved

Dropbox stuck syncing, won't let me delete files

Hello,

My Dropbox is taking forever to sync.

Over a month now I started having issues when syncing shared files. I could manually upload and download the latest version of a shared file via browser, but my files wouldn't sync locally. It took me a while to notice it, so I lost hours of work and had a few arguments with work mates, because I wasn't seeing their edits and they weren't seeing mine. When I finally discovered that my local files weren't up to date, I found the Dropbox app was stuck syncing over 2,500,000 files (it probably was because I moved the location of the root folder of a big project containing millions of files, so I guess Dropbox was having difficulties relocating that many files).

Over a month later, I got sick of having to manually download and upload every single file I wanted to edit, so I cancelled my paid account, and moved to a different company. The thing is, I need to use Dropbox for a few (light) things because it's the platform where I share it with a few others , but even though I moved away almost everything it still says it's syncing over 2,200,000 files, and won't let me sync anything because it says my Dropbox is full.

Long story short: After moving away almost all of the files that I had stored on Dropbox I cancelled my Dropbox Pro account, but it is still syncing millions of files and says I'm using over 4000 % of my free storage. I moved away those files locally, but they continue to appear via browser. When trying to delete them via browser, it says they're too many and asks me to do it locally.

What can I do to delete those files from my Dropbox?

Thanks,

Serafin

 

  • Hi Jeff,

    After contacting me by email the engineering team at Dropbox deleted the problematic folder themselves.

    The issue was the huge volume of files in that folder (over 2,500,000). What they said is that the current limitation of the Dropbox desktop application is roughly around 300,000 files. I gave them permisition to remove it, and they did so.

    Best,

    Serafin

19 Replies

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  • JeffBradford's avatar
    JeffBradford
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    Im having the exact same problem. Can you post the solution? 

  • serafinalvarez's avatar
    serafinalvarez
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Hi Jeff,

    After contacting me by email the engineering team at Dropbox deleted the problematic folder themselves.

    The issue was the huge volume of files in that folder (over 2,500,000). What they said is that the current limitation of the Dropbox desktop application is roughly around 300,000 files. I gave them permisition to remove it, and they did so.

    Best,

    Serafin

  • Timmusician's avatar
    Timmusician
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 years ago

    I unsynced Dropbox, stopped my account, deleted the dropbox folder from my PC, and it lost all my files and left me with a blank desktop. I've managed to get some of my files back and thankfully had some backed up on Google Drive. The dropbox folder STILL appears and STILL keeps adding my files to it (thus reducing my drive capacity at a fast rate). Please, anyone, do not use Dropbox. I can't get rid of it now and it contantly messes up my directories!!!

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago
    Hey Timmusician, thanks for nudging us here and sorry to hear about your frustration. 

    Since you mention that you uninstalled the desktop app and deleted the Dropbox folder, could you clarify if the folder you're seeing is a regular folder by any chance? 

    It'd be super helpful if you could send us a screenshot of it. 
  • Timmusician's avatar
    Timmusician
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 years ago
    I had to reinstall the Dropbox app in order to get back to where I was. I have unlinked everything and still can't get rid of the DB folder without losing all my files again
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago
    If you unlinked the desktop app from your account, that Dropbox folder should be like any other folder on your computer that doesn't sync to the website. 

    In this case, I'd recommend leaving it as is, or moving to another location, so that you can cross-check the files that get synced after you reinstall the desktop app.
  • serenasu's avatar
    serenasu
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    Hi, 

     

    I've had the same problem. I had 128k files stuck even after I deleted them from my PC. the constant sync trashed my PC and if I stopped Syncing I am not able to access my files. 

    Please can someone here help me? 

     

    Serena.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    Hey serenasu, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    If you haven't already, can you please restart your computer, to see if that helps?

     

    If not, hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your system tray, to see if there are any error messages or sync issues causing this behavior.

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