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Dennis_Zuiderlicht's avatar
Dennis_Zuiderlicht
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago
Solved

Dropbox uses a ton of hard drive space despite most files being online only

So, I've put ALL my files on online-only because my Mac was running out of space. In my Mac settings, Dropbox takes up 108 GB currently. Once I actually look at what folders are taking up space it'...
desktop
Mac
Storage space
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    3 years ago

    Is it possible that the hidden Dropbox cache folder is taking up space on your machine?

     

    Try deleting the folder using these steps to see if this helps.

eroberts's avatar
eroberts
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Hi Nancy,

 

Thanks for getting back to me. It's not that, we have a ton of space in the cloud. It has something to do with the sync function because it is literally downloading all of the files we have in Dropbox which I don't need on my desktop. This is simpler in OneDrive, because all I do is select online only or free up space and it frees up the space. I'm not sure why through Dropbox this is so much harder. It's especially confusing because it tells me it has successfully transferred the files online when it hasn't.Lots of space

Megan's avatar
Megan
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Hey eroberts, let me also jump in here! 

 

Would you be able to send me another screenshot of the Dropbox folder's properties, just to check what's going on there? 

 

Also, when you access your folders inside the Dropbox folder, do you see any syncing icons there? 

  • eroberts's avatar
    eroberts
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Hi Megan,

     

    Please see attached. Also, no, I don't see any syncing icons. I was looking for this when I first started this process to determine the status by file/folder, but didn't see any.

  • eroberts's avatar
    eroberts
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Hi Megan,

     

    Yes, I've tried both. I even uninstalled Dropbox and reinstalled it. Is there anything else I can try?

  • eroberts's avatar
    eroberts
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Hi Megan,

     

    I had also tried the following from the Help Center on the Dropbox website:

    But I don't see the New files default option either:

     

     

     

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hi again! On one of the screenshots you sent to Megan, I can see that your Dropbox folder contains about 360K files (in general, the performance of the app may decline above ~300K files).

     

    Besides making your files online-only, there’s also the selective sync feature (showing on your last screenshot), which totally removes some folders from your Dropbox app and you can then access them online. Can you please give it a go for one or two folders and let me know if you see any difference at all?

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