Dropbox full because of shared folder

Hi Dave,

Oh, so it became personal... how sad. I definitely did not try to "yell down anyone that says anything different". If this is how you perceived my comments, please accept my apologies. I still believe that you failed to address my point, but I also believe that it became of little interest to the readers (if indeed there are any left). So here we are... we just have different opinions. Happens in life rather often, I would say.

I do believe that Dropbox is hiding certain aspects from view of less technically advanced users (thus: majority), and I do consider this to be unethical marketing technique. Of course it is their show, they do whatever they thing is best for them. I do nor require any examples or "rehashing" of technical explanation -- I am advanced user. I leave it for others to comments, and/or continue. If nobody is interested any longer.... well, I just leave this thread to fizzle out peacefully.

Have a great day, Derek.

Ben L,

There Are None So Blind As Those...

Cheers, Derek

Ben L : lol but folders in a file cabnet need to be made of cardboard or some material as well, I guess you forgot that point. Of course neither make any difference since a folder (shared or not) takes NO storage capacity, try it.

The bookcase analogy is theoretical not physical, scope of bookcase functionality and size clearly should have alerted you to that.

All the rest is just rehashing, if you cant understand that the room you have is all the room you have, then build a Tardis, just dont call it PoliceBox. :-P

Derek : LOL @ saying "Oh, so it became personal... how sad." then making an "apology". With that and your further post which was just trolling, you can Talk to the hand.

Dear visitor,

If you came here because you Googled "Dropbox full because of shared folder" (or something similar), save yourself some time and do not read the posts above. Often on the Internet technical discussion quickly deteriorates to names calling, personal attacks, attempts to demonstrate to (typically very small) audience: "I am smart, you are not", irrelevant analogies (typically: "it is like a car engine, you see...")... etc, etc. Be smart:

GO HERE and read ONLY THAT:

https://help.dropbox.com/files-folders/storage-space

This seems like such an easy problem to solve such that sharing is more intuitive, quotas don't make sharing difficult, and free accounts are still difficult to abuse. Just make shared folders read-only until the recipient wants write access. Read-only access is already status quo because we can share via links so it only affects the presentation without affecting security or existing quota rules.

What an amazing amount of hot air in this thread.  Sound and fury signifying nothing....  Anyway, thanks to Derek for getting back to what matters and posting that informative link.  As others have expressed, this shared folder behavior is quite antiquated in its limitations and I have moved on to OneDrive and Google Drive as my only paid subscription services for the moment.  Still, I regularly get asked to join shared folders on Dropbox when what the other party really needs to do is send a File Request: https://www.dropbox.com/help/files-folders/create-file-request  Lots of people misunderstand how this system works and what its limitations are.

Dereck B, Ben L,

When all seems lost, Dilbert always comes to the rescue ;-)

[Image of copyright protected work removed by Moderator. Use the links below]

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-11-21

http://dilbert.com/

Well, we all understand what Dave is saying but as mere users it is not what we expect. Quite often you want to have occasional access to a shared folder just maybe to see a few files in it. So why should I then not be able to sync my photos simply because I have a momentary need to look at a few files on someone else's filestore.

I don't want to pay for their vast data storage requirement, I just want occassional access to some of the data.

I think Dave and Dropbox just don't really understand how most of us use dropbox.

I think, Dave, we understand your technical arguement. It just ignores the way most of us see the cloud world. I am now going to have to unshare the folder and I cannot share again because I do not have the capacity to look. Therefore, dropbox becomes, at a stroke much less useful to me.

I think it is madness myself.

I would suggest, the 'owner' of a shared folder pays for the capacity they use. Others need to have enough bandwidth for the files they actually use or look at.

Maybe it should all be set to read only, and visitors to share folders can optionally make individual files/folders read/write access,. Then they get charged for it i.e. becomes part of their allowance.

kevin f.  : all is not lost my friend :-)

You DONT have to UNSHARE the folder, just DELETE it from your dropbox. Its the HAVING the folder in your dropbox that takes you over quota, not the being in the SHARE.

UNSHARING the folder means your not in the SHARE (so no quota use).

DELETING the folder means your not viewing the SHARE (so no quota use).

See this for an example.

1) Join the shared folder. (you go over quota)

2) I suggest you UNSYNC the folder from your devices. (you remain over quota)

3) Delete the folder via the cloud. (Your back under quota)

4) When needed click the SHARING tab, and rejoin the folder (you go over quota again)

5) When finished with the folder go to (3)

--

Users can even be real tricky by first joining the folder, not unsyncing it, then the WHOLE folder downloads to your computer, and THEN you stop syncing. Soyou drag and drop the folder out of the DROPBOX folder, which as far as DB sees this is a folder delete (like 3).

You can then via your file browser, drag that folder back in to the DROPBOX folder and it performs a rejoin (like 4), The only concern with this is if files have been removed you can accidentally cause them to be re added and changed files sometimes cause sync conflicts, as they were in your copy of the folder. This can be fixed by before you drag the folder back in, deleting ALL files in the folder except for the .DROPBOX file (which is the key to DB knowing its the shared folder your rejoining).

When a empty folder is dragged in (with the .DROPBOX file in it) the DB app sees a join and that you need all the files of the share, so downloads them all. Sure you go over quota, but then just drag the folder back out again :-)

I hope this at least helps some users find a compromise between what they hopped for and what they get.

Hello,
New user here; trying to test DB before signing up for paid service.  Experiencing the same problem others have reported: DB marketing materials stated that I would have 2GB of "free" introductory storage, but now it is used up after one third party accessed our single shared folder - despite the fact that the folder size is only around 800MB.  Have read through the DB help materials and the discussions posted here and still don't have a clear idea of how to make the remaining 1200MB available again (or, for that matter, the entire 2GB after the 800MB folder is deleted).  Suggestions?  Thanks!
KL