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Forum Discussion

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.

Unknown abstracts's avatar
Unknown abstracts
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago

Hi Jay,

I encountered exactly the same issue - the dropbox take me 500GB hardrive space where the actual local file size is 200GB. I tried all the methods that you mentioned as above but it only free 12 GB which basically means nothing. 

This issue has been 1 year actually. I did all online research, keep dropbox and OS version up to date, but there isn't any improvement at all. 
Could you please your let your team look at this issue? I believe it's dropbox sofeware problem because I can see many users have the exactly same problem that cannot be solve. This is significantly affect the user experience. There is no point to use a cloud drive that take 3 times file size of the local drive. 

Thank you 

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

Sorry to see that you're having this issue, Unknown abstracts.

 

What is your computer's OS and version?

 

Also, what's the version of the Dropbox app and the sync status at the moment?

 

You can see this info by hovering over your Dropbox icon.

  • Unknown abstracts's avatar
    Unknown abstracts
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    Hi Hannah,

    Thanks for replying. My computer OS is macOS ventura 13.5.2. The dropbox syncing is up to date.

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

      Thanks, Unknown abstracts.

       

      And the Dropbox version?

       

      Also, is the "online-only files on Mac" setting enabled here?

      • Unknown abstracts's avatar
        Unknown abstracts
        Explorer | Level 4
        2 years ago

        The dropbox version is v211.4.6008. and Online-only is enabled.

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