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grannysmith1's avatar
grannysmith1
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
Solved

How do I delete files from Dropbox only and not my computer's hard drive?

i dont know how files got into my dropbox and now I have several locations with the same files.  How do I delete the dropbox files and ensure files on  my pc's hard drive are not affected?

Delete
restore

7 Replies

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  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 years ago

    Hey there grannysmith1  - sorry for the tardy response; are you still having issues with this? 

    If you do, I'd suggest taking a look at the following Help Center article:

    https://help.dropbox.com/desktop-web/delete-files

    If there's anything else I can help with from my end, please let me know. Oh and happy Monday!

  • RBenne231's avatar
    RBenne231
    Explorer | Level 4
    6 years ago

    No...I have the same issue. I don't want dropbox deleting the pictures on my computer. since when did dropbox own the computer?

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Hi RBenne231 - welcome to the Dropbox Community.

    As I'm not sure I follow here, could you elaborate on what seems to be bothering you?

    I'm only asking because Dropbox would never delete files from your computer without any manual input. 

    Let me know what exactly you're referring to and we'll take it from there. 

    Thanks so much and happy new Year! 

  • MojoMojo's avatar
    MojoMojo
    Helpful | Level 6
    6 years ago

    Hi RBenne231

    if you delete files in Dropbox they will be deleted on you PC with the next sync. If you don't want this to happen, move the files to an other folder outside Dropbox. The files are no longer in Your Dropbox and you can keep them. 

  • RBenne231's avatar
    RBenne231
    Explorer | Level 4
    6 years ago

    I finally got brave and just deleted the files from Dropbox. The way things read, it looks like deleting the files might remove them from my computer too. It is somewhat confusing  and threatening. Ultimately they are gone from Dropbox now. Because the computer liks automatically to dropbox, unless I'm rith on it, sometimes files go there that I do not wnat there. Its a bit frustrating.... 

  • MojoMojo's avatar
    MojoMojo
    Helpful | Level 6
    6 years ago

    What file types are you referring to? Pictures?

  • RBenne231's avatar
    RBenne231
    Explorer | Level 4
    6 years ago

    Mostly pictures but i finally just deleted them and they seem to hae stayed on my computer. 

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