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Kirsten3's avatar
Kirsten3
New member | Level 2
5 years ago
Solved

Deleting computer folders from Dropbox

Hi everybody,

I'm having a problem lately with my dropbox account.

I have the basic package, so i can only have 2 GB of storage on my dropbox.

This is why I only want the files needed on the dropbox and not my personal documents. But it happens to be that these documents are already on my dropbox. There is a file 'My PC' on dropbox with all my personal documents in it. This file is shared with no one.

I cannot delete the folders/documents from dropbox without deleting them from my local computer storage. 

Can anybody help me out? I cannot upload anything now as my storage is full.

Thanks in advance:)

 

 

Computer Backup
Delete
desktop
Dropbox Basic
restore
sync
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    5 years ago
    Hello Kirsten3 and jlarch3rr, thanks for checking in with us. 

    It seems like you have computer backup enabled, which adds computer folders (like Documents and Downloads) into your Dropbox folder. 

    In this case, if you don't need it, you can turn it off by following the steps mentioned in this article. 

    During these steps, you'll be give the option to move the files back to where they were originally. 

    Have a look through and let me know how it goes, cheers!

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  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    5 years ago

    Hi Sactown, welcome to our Community!

    It sounds like you've both enabled our Computer backup feature. 

    You can find detailed steps on how to disable it and move your content back in this Help Center article. 

    If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know!

  • Sactown's avatar
    Sactown
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    I believe I have fixed the synching issues. My files seem to have been restored to their correct place on my PC. My question is: if I delete the files and folders labled i.e. "PC Desktop" in Dropbox, will they just be deleted from my Dropbox. But stay on my PC?

     

    I have experimented and it seems that despite the message that files will be deleted from all my devices, since my files have been restored on my PC, I have been able to delete files from my Dropbox account and they remain on my PC. I hope my question is clear. I believe I have fixed this, but if I am wrong, I don't want to delete files from my PC inadvertantly.

     

    Thank you.

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

    Thanks for the nudge here, Luciennedeschaux.

     

    During the process of disabling backup, you'll be asked if you want to keep your content in folders on your PC/Mac or leave your content in Dropbox.

     

    So, you can choose what you prefer.

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.

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