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Forum Discussion
Shared dropbox
Someone shared a large amount of files with us but it is taking up our entire storage allotment. They said we must have inadvertently clicked "add to my dropbox" at some point which put a copy of all their files into our dropbox. I'm not sure how to change that setting and would love to fix it since we have no room for anything new.
So, in a nutshell, how do I view their files without taking up storage space?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
4 Replies
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- Rich
Super User II
questions2024 wrote:
So, in a nutshell, how do I view their files without taking up storage space?
It depends on how the files were shared with you.
If you were sent a shared link, then the person is likely correct that you clicked the option to save the files to your own account. Doing so saves a copy, so if that's what happened you can just delete the files from your account without affecting the files in the other person's account.
To view those files, you would just click the link you were sent and view the files on the Dropbox website. You would also have the option to download any files that you need.
If, however, you were invited to a shared folder, then you would be added as a member of the folder and you've have your own copy in your account, but any action taken within that folder, such as deleting a file, would apply for all other members as well. Delete a file in a shared folder and it's deleted from everyone's folder.
Thank you for your response. I was not the original person to set this up so I really have no way of knowing how it was done originally.
I don't seem to have any access to manage the files/folders at all. The only option I am seeing to delete ANYTHING is to delete EVERYTHING. I found a YouTube video that seemed promising but it is not showing options exactly the same so I am at a loss.
Do you know if there is a way to determine how it was set up?- Rich
questions2024 wrote:
Do you know if there is a way to determine how it was set up?
Ask the sender? Or, if the folder appears on this page it's a shared folder, and you can use that page to remove it from your account.
If it's not on that page, then it's likely a shared link and you clicked the option to save a copy to your account, in which case you can just delete the files by signing in to your account on the Dropbox website and delete them like you would delete any other file or folder.
CaraDBXDropbox Engineer
Rich wrote:If you were sent a shared link, then the person is likely correct that you clicked the option to save the files to your own account. Doing so saves a copy, so if that's what happened you can just delete the files from your account without affecting the files in the other person's account.
Hi Rich questions2024 ,
I just want to clarify that if you clicked 'Join Folder' on the shared folder link, you are now a member of the owner's shared folder. This is different than saving your own private copy of the folder.
Here's how to leave a shared folder: https://help.dropbox.com/share/leave-shared-folder
