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Ruth W.9's avatar
Ruth W.9
New member | Level 2
30 days ago

How can I remove files from my account to free up space and save them to an external drive?

Dear smart people, I want to free up space in Dropbox by deleting files there. Can someone explain how to put the contents (mostly word documents and some photos) of my current Dropbox onto an external hard drive in case I need something in the future? Step by step instructions I mean.  I don't know how to do it, but am also concerned that the copied files could disappear from the external hard drive when I then delete them from my Dropbox account. Is that possible?  I use Dropbox from a laptop computer. I looked at past discussion posts but they're all too complicated. Thank you SO much for your help!

1 Reply

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    30 days ago

    Hi Ruth :)

    Dropbox is a regular folder like all others, so, basically move the files to the other directory like you would any other. What you do need to do first though is make sure you have them as available offline so they are local. 

    Once they are all local literally drag the files / directories to the new place and all is good. 

    If the files are not in \Dropbox they wont be linked at all and so cannot be deleted by Dropbox / edited if you change them elsewhere etc. 

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