Why do shared files count against my space use???

Looking for help.

I share access to files (read and update) to my customers.Some work fine, others experience a problem where they run out of space. Why i space an issue if they are sharing files in my dropbox account?

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tonyweetman44 wrote:

Why i space an issue if they are sharing files in my dropbox account?

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Because they aren't accessing the files in your account. They get their own copy of the files in their account and they need to have enough space available to hold those files.

• https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/shared-folder-count-against-storage

If they only need view and download access, consider using a Shared Link instead.

Hi Rich,

Thx for getting back to me. So what i am trying to achieve is letting my customers share some of my project folders so they can pass data to us, or we can share training videos with them etc. Sounds like i cant do this without them having their own Dropbox account with sufficient space available?.

Hi tonyweetman44, I hope you're doing well! 

In order to achieve what you mentioned, and as an alternative to shared folders, you can use shared links as Rich suggested. 

And if they need to pass data over to you, you can then use File Requests instead. 

If you have any questions, let me know! 

I'm sharing a folder with my boss, who has a paid version of Dropbox (mine is the free one). Now she can't access the information that I save on the folder because my Dropbox reached the limit. But if she is paying for it, then why is it not working?

Does Dropbox wants two paid versions to be able to provide the full space for both?

And why do I have to write on a community chat to be able to get any answer? 
If I'm going to pay for storage, definitely I won't be using Dropbox, if that's how they do business. I can share my OneDrive with my boss there are plenty of space there.

By the way, Microsoft loves that kind of business you do Dropbox 👏👏👏

Hi Blavious_B, thanks for posting here! 

I've merged your post under a similar thread, where others have also expressed this question. Feel free to have a look at what was mentioned here. 

Essentially, since the folder exists in both accounts, you'd both need space to edit, and make changes. 

If you have any questions, let me know!

I received an invitation from a friend to view and edit the content of a folder set up specifically for me (primarily to add photos).  The invitation appeared as an "Add to Dropbox" button - when engaged, the folder was added to my personal basic Dropbox account and the photos added counted against my 2 Gb limit.  My friend upgraded to a 2 Tb account specifically for adding about 25 folders for people to upload and share their photos.  Is there a setting I need to change so I am only working on the external account?  Thank you.

Hi hudsontw3141 

No, sorry, thats not how Dropbox works. If you need edit access you also need enough quota to accept the share. 

Thanks - I appreciate you taking the time to respond!

The folder was created by my friend for me to add content, so it seems we both need enough capacity to handle the work flow.  

Hi hudsontw3141, that's correct, you'd need to upgrade to a paid plan to be able to add the shared folder to your account.

You can instead ask them to create a shared link to the folder in order for you to view the files on the site, without adding to any account.