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tuongvan's avatar
tuongvan
Explorer | Level 4
1 year ago

Dropbox Backup automatically creates folders under folders under folders ad infinitum

On my Macbook I once asked Dropbox to do backup of my Documents folder. What it did was to create a folder called "My files in Dropbox" and put all of my files under this folder. But under My files i...
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Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
1 year ago

Thanks for the screenshots, crismelo!

 

Can you give us some more info on the extra folders that you mentioned that Dropbox created? What kind of folders are they?

 

And tuongvan, can you please give us the ticket number for your communication with our support team, so we can take a look as well?

crismelo's avatar
crismelo
Explorer | Level 4
1 year ago

Hello Hannah, this is a screenshot of the many folders that Dropbox created. My laptop is stuck; I can barely use it. Uploading files to Dropbox to delete them from my laptop goes exceptionally slowly. I don't know how to sort this situation. I am puzzled because yesterday I freed 7GB, and now my laptop says it has less than 1 GB; I believe Dropbox backup claims every space I make it free. this is a nightmare. Please help me.  One question: I am moving folders inside Dropbox, not backup. When I deleted them from my laptop, I got this message: 

 

Can you confirm that it will be deleted from my backup folders but remain inside Dropbox in a normal folder I just uploaded?  Super important question. 

Here the screenshot of dropbox on my C drive: Message I am getting very often: 

 

 

 

 

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    1 year ago

    Hey again, crismelo! When deleting folders from your laptop, can you clarify which folder they’re currently located in, when you delete them? Are you deleting them from your local Dropbox folder, after uploading them, or from another folder?

     

    In general, keep in mind that any changes you make to your backed up folders, they'll also sync to Dropbox online, as these folders are connected to Dropbox like your local Dropbox folder is. 

     

    If you want to add folders to your Dropbox account, but want to remove them from your local device so that they don’t take up extra space, then I’d suggest using selective sync instead. You’ll still be able to access everything online this way, plus you'll free up your local storage.

     

    If I’ve misunderstood something though, let me know.

    • crismelo's avatar
      crismelo
      Explorer | Level 4
      1 year ago

      Hello Nancy, 

      If I understood well, in this scenario:

      - folder AA and files BB.doc  are connected to Dropbox backup, with sync on 

      - I created in my Dropbox account one folder called Laptop 2024 

      - I uploaded the folder AA and file BB.doc into the  folder Dropbox Laptop 2024

      - I deleted the folder AA and file BB.doc from my local C drive

         in this case, will Dropbox delete folder AA and file BB.doc from the folder Dropbox Laptop 2024? 

      Please answer a Yes or No to this scenario.   

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
        1 year ago

        In short, no it shouldn’t. 

         

        In this scenario, you’re basically having two copies of the same files on Dropbox; one in the original backup folder and a copy that you create later on within your local Dropbox folder (inside the “Laptop 2024 folder”). 

         

        If you delete the AA folder and BB.doc from the original backup location, this shouldn't affect the copy you have in “Laptop 2024” within your Dropbox folder (since these are two separate copies). 

         

        Hope this clarifies things a bit more.

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