Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Carlene W.
9 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Everything on my computer is automatically uploading to Dropbox without my consent.
Everything on my computer is automatically uploading to Dropbox without my consent.I need to stop it and I need to get all of it off dropbox and back on my computer, Help!
- 9 years ago
First off, your files are still on your computer but its uploading. FYI, Dropbox Client watches your Dropbox folder for any changes/files and syncs them to any shared folders or devices. So any files put inside your Dropbox folder will be uploaded. Now, also, FYI, when you reboot your computer, it (Dropbox Client) will index all your files. It has to do this to verify any changes that were made, it may not be uploading but it might say, it's indexing. You can see the message as hover over your Dropbox icon in System try with your mouse
Dropbox will NOT delete your files UNLESS you delete them. Dropbox is a syncing tool that syncs to the cloud and to all devices and shared folders.
I hope this helps and if not, reply and ask more questions
Chris_J
Super User alumni
6 years agoHello Teeth6
thanks for reaching out to us. I believe Dropbox new Beta feature is enabled. You can turn that off by going into your settings. You get there by clicking on Dropbox icon then click on the gear on the top right side. A dialog box would show and from there click on preferences and from there go to the Backup tab and turn that feature off
hopes this helps lyou
teeth6
6 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Chris, Thanks for the reply but I don't see a gear or settings icon in dropbox. If I login to dropbox.com, I am able to navigate to settings, preferences but do not see an area to turn off the backup tab. When I open the desktop icon of dropbox, only the various folders in dropbox are visable.
- Chris_J6 years ago
Super User alumni
I am assuming that you are using the Desktop Client to sync files. Do you have a Dropbox icon in your system tray or menu bar? if the client is running, you should find an icon, click on the icon then you will see a window and then a settings (gear) icon
- RedMountainPhotos5 years agoNew member | Level 2
I feel like I should chime in here even though it's been a while because I'm helping a client with this exact issue.
No one else has mentioned so far that Dropbox has multiple sync settings in the app preferences that ALL can effect how & what files and folders are being uploaded to dropbox. (this is all on a windows PC btw but i'm sure its similar on a mac)
In the dropbox app under preferences, check the following things:
In the Backups tab- Under This PC - "Automatically back up your Desktop, Documents" etc - click Set up and make sure NONE of that is checked
- Under Import photos and video - click "Change Autoplay Settings" and set Removable drive and Memory card to "Take no action"
Next, go over to the Sync tab back in dropbox settings and choose Selective Sync
here you can see the exact folders and subfolders on your computer that are being backed up to Dropbox (indicated by a check mark)
If you have a lot listed there, click through each folder and sub folder, because there can be sub folders that are checked that are in a parent folder that's NOT checked.
Uncheck anything you DO NOT want synced to dropbox, BUT keep in mind that unchecking those files will remove them from your computer (NOT remove them from dropbox) SO, if you want to keep those files on your computer, you'll first need to copy them to a different folder.
Lastly, once you've copied everything you want to keep safely off dropbox to another location on your computer, you need to delete the files off dropbox. (simply unchecking the folders and unsyncing does NOT remove them from dropbox online storage)
Hope that helps anyone else who's having issues with this.
cheers!
About Create, upload, and share
Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice 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.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!