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Forum Discussion
Mystery Photos on my account
Long story short: I have to free up space and these photos are mysterious in origin -- and I don't know what to call that 'menu item' on the left edge to be able to search for it in help in order to ...
So there are a number of terms here that I'm unclear on... we have a number of folders that we use for work, I don't know if there is a collective term for that shared matter or not...
I am thoroughly unclear on why a document that's on the cloud takes up space in multiple accounts, if that's what you're saying. My initial understanding when it was all set up was that the files existed for the company (in some sense) and that those of us who need them could access them as needed and our changes would be saved in the 'master file' so the next person could see them (or indeed, we could see that two of us were working on them simultaneously, as a couple times has been the case). Why this would impact my account, I don't understand.
When things were working, all of the files in the app had a little cloud-and-arrow icon next to them, as if to say, "this is on the cloud, download it if you need it". Then if I accessed a file, I'd have to click it and get a menu with an option to "make online-only", which I would do, presumably so that there would only be one unified version existing solely on the cloud again.
The Photos section seen in my screen grab is not part of the usual work space. I didn't even know it was there until I opened the browser version of the account, having used the desktop app version exclusively at first. So I don't know where it comes from.
I did recently stumble into a section of the account where there was a breakdown of what was in it, and it only added up to something like 1.6 GB or so... wish I'd gotten a screen grab of that, since I can't find that breakdown again right now... but it would be interesting to know what that mean, and why I'm told the account has 2.1 GB in it.
And I do appreciate all the input and help -- thank you!
So I have folders in the 'collective' that I seriously never need access to... I found in Help that I can remove myself from them with the option to 're-join' them later if the need exists.
However, the terminology/iconography is not pretty:
Actually following this advice involves clicking on a trash can icon -- "Delete" and "Trash can" don't feel like the right labels! Doing this, am I really just removing these items for myself and they're still there for everybody else? I don't want to be the person who deleted a large useful file for the entire company.
- Rich
Super User II
jonsymbolgoodman wrote:
Doing this, am I really just removing these items for myself and they're still there for everybody else?
Yes. If you click Delete you'll receive a confirmation explaining the process before it actually deletes it. You can also remove a folder from your Dropbox from your Sharing page.
Ah, thank you -- gonna take awhile to absorb all of that (though I think it is a business account, hence added members not needing to store things).
But your linking to the shared section takes me to what I had seen! This does not add up to 2 GB, does it??
This is the complete list of what's Shared. Even with those 43 MB, 1 GB plus 643 MB isn't over 2 GB. Are there some kind of hidden Dropbox files which could equal about 350 MB??? I mean, thumbdrives and portable discs always said they were "X amount" but they were always a bit less than that in reality... is this some similar situation?
- Rich
jonsymbolgoodman wrote:
(though I think it is a business account, hence added members not needing to store things).
If you're trying to access a shared folder and it's telling you that you need more space, your account is not part of a Business team account. You likely have a Basic account, which is an individual account that starts with 2GB of space for free.
This is the complete list of what's Shared. Even with those 43 MB, 1 GB plus 643 MB isn't over 2 GB.
There's too much cropped out of that page to know what it represents. To see the breakdown of your usage (Regulars files, shared files, backups, etc.), you need to look at your Plan page.
Regular files are files that you've added to your account. Shared files are the files located in any shared folders that you've been invited to, and backup files are backups that you may have done on your computer.
jonsymbolgoodman wrote:
Are there some kind of hidden Dropbox files which could equal about 350 MB???
No, nothing hidden, but make sure you check your Backups page in case you enabled a backup.
Rich wrote:
There's too much cropped out of that page to know what it represents. To see the breakdown of your usage (Regulars files, shared files, backups, etc.), you need to look at your Plan page.So there's the Plan Page results. It's all shared files. But looking at shared files is that other grab that clearly has less than 2 GB. Clicking on files, links and sig requests, all are empty. I don't know what difference the titles of the folders or their dates could add to an analysis of the total space needed for the shared files... but I could get a new screen grab if it'll help.
So, yeah, they don't match up. : \
To be clear, this account was set up only to access work files. I'm NOT piggybacking anything into the storage. So regardless of what type of account it is, if we all have the same type of account, it's weird that I'm the only one getting this overage error.
- Rich
jonsymbolgoodman wrote:
So there's the Plan Page results. It's all shared files. But looking at shared files is that other grab that clearly has less than 2 GB.
Again, that other screenshot has no context at all. I don't know where it's from or what it's showing. It can't be showing you all of your shared files as there's clearly 2.1GB of shared content within your account. If I had to guess, it's showing a single shared folder that you can't join because you don't have room, but without seeing the full page that it comes from, I can't be certain.
... I could get a new screen grab if it'll help.It would, if it's the full page. Just mask any private information.
To be clear, this account was set up only to access work files. I'm NOT piggybacking anything into the storage.That's not how it works. If you have an individual account, which it appears that you do, and you accept a shared folder, that folder exists within your account taking up space. You're not accessing it directly within the account that shared it with you.
You new screenshot shows that you have 2.1GB of data in your account. Assuming you only have 2GB of space, you're over your quota due to shared content. You'll either need to upgrade your account or leave some shared folders to bring yourself back below your quota.
So regardless of what type of account it is, if we all have the same type of account, it's weird that I'm the only one getting this overage error.The account type matters, as does the amount of space that you have available in it. Two people can have the same account type but with different amounts of available space. Assuming two people with a Basic account, one person could have 1GB of data in it already so they can only accept another 1GB of shared content, while the other person's account is empty so they can accept 2GB of content. Or one person may have more than 2GB available (earned through referrals or other promotions) so they can accept more than a regular Basic account.
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
It looks like you're over your account's quota limit jonsymbolgoodman
In this case, you'll need to make up some space before adding this folder to your account.
You can achieve this by deleting any files you don't need stored in Dropbox or removing your access from shared folders you don't need.
Alternatively, since the space you'd need to access the folder is not too much, you can try referring a friend or colleague to Dropbox as that would earn you 500 MB of additional space.
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Thanks, Walter -- the entire thread is about getting more space.
Could someone clarify why the Shared page and Plan page don't agree?
Shared shows everything that's been shared with the account, which by what's shown on screen is something like 1.7 GB.
The Plan page says I'm at 2.1 GB and that everything on the account is a shared file. It confirms that there are no backups taking space, and no "regular files" (whatever that means) taking up space.Maybe math is not my strong suit (which is at the cleaners), but I'm reasonably certain 1.7 does not equal 2.1.
So what's that all about, hunh?- Nancy
Hi from me as well, jonsymbolgoodman! Can you please go to your Shared page again, click on the Files column instead, and send me a screenshot of what you see there?
- Hannah
Thanks for that, jonsymbolgoodman!
Indeed, that's what Nancy meant.
Would you mind actually navigating to your shared folders from the "all files" page instead and check out their exact sizes, to see what results you find?
You can calculate the size of the folders, by following the steps here.
