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

Have you tried deleting the cache folder to see if this helps? Did you mark the entire Dropbox folder as online-only?

You might need to check the properties of each subfolder manually to see where the space is being used up.

I'm having the same issue on Windows, but this doesn't work. I had already previously cleared the cache. i don't see the option to make online only when I right-click, I only see manage hard drive space. Once I do this, Dropbox says successfully done, but it's not actually doing anything, because once I go back to manage hard drive space, it shows the space Dropbox is consuming as if I had done nothing.

Sorry to hear this, eroberts. Can you send us a couple of screenshots of what you see on your device (including the options you see when right-clicking on your Dropbox files and the size of the cache folder)? 

I’d also like to know the syncing status and app version of your desktop app.

Hi Nancy,

Please see attached. It stopped syncing, informing me that the Dropbox is full and I need to clear files. I had tried clearing the cache several times and this didn't make sense at first because I was getting these messages but there weren't many files in the cache. On about the 5th time, I noticed some files were in the old_files folder and I cleared those and some space was freed up. However, the next day, it filled right back up again. I then checked the cache again and only 34.2 MB of space is being used. The old_files folder is also still empty.manage hard drive space - fulldropbox status even after running manage hard drive spaceno online only option on right clickmanage hard drive space - cleareddropbox versiondrive full even after running manage hard drive space

Thanks for those screenshots! Now, if I got it right, it looks like both your Dropbox account and your hard drive are full. 

Can you go here and send me one more screenshot of what you see? 

If your Dropbox account is indeed full, the first step will be to either remove some files from your account online or get more Dropbox space to sync the extra files.

In any case, if your Dropbox account is full, then your Dropbox app won’t sync either, which may be the reason why you don’t see the online-only option.

Let me know if I misunderstood something though.

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

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? 

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.

Have you tried signing out of the app, and then back in or even rebooting your device at all eroberts?

Hi Megan,

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