Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

Jcyr66's avatar
Jcyr66
New member | Level 1
11 months ago

Can I delete (old) files from my computer without deleting them from the cloud?

Hi,

I just purchased an MS Surface and after finally getting it set up and including my personal and work Dropbox accounts, I find that I have several Personal (Old) and Company (Old) folders with are taking up quite a bit of space.  Can I delete these (old) folders without losing these documents?

6 Replies

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    11 months ago
    Jcyr66 wrote:

    ... I find that I have several Personal (Old) and Company (Old) folders with are taking up quite a bit of space. Can I delete these (old) folders without losing these documents?

    If the folders are in your local Dropbox folder, then deleting them will also delete them in the cloud. By default, Dropbox is a file sync service, so any changes you make are reflected across all devices.

    If you want to save disk space you can use Selective Sync to completely remove folders from your local drive, or you can mark a file or folder as Online-only so that it still appears on the drive but doesn't take up any disk space until you go to use it.

  • Jcyr66's avatar
    Jcyr66
    New member | Level 1
    11 months ago

    The (Old) folders are not in the local Dropbox folder as identified with the blue avatar.  They do reside on my tablet in a yellow exchange folder.  I am leery of deleting these since they are our company's files.

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    11 months ago

    Hi Jcyr66! Hope you’re doing well. 

    Can you send me a screenshot of what you see inside your local Dropbox folder and of the blue avatar you mention, so that I can have a look?

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    11 months ago

    Thanks for that! So, if I get this right, you want to remove the “Dropbox (Personal) (Old)” folder that appears in your File Explorer, correct?

    If you open that folder, do you see any syncing icons next to your files there?

    I’d also like a screenshot of what you see under the Sync tab of your app preferences to make sure that folder is not currently syncing to your Dropbox account online in any way.

  • Jcyr66's avatar
    Jcyr66
    New member | Level 1
    11 months ago

    Correct, I want to get rid of the one folder titled (Personal) (Old) and two folders (Stern Risk Partners) (Old) and (Old) (1).  Photos to follow shortly

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!