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Forum Discussion
My account is full of shared files - How can I delete them to free up space?
My account is entirely full with files other people shared to me. I have no personal files stored.
If I attempt to delete any files from the folder mirrored to my desktop account, it says I need p...
Rich
Super User II
Super User IIDon't even understand why files shared to me take up space in my account ...
It works this way because you're not just getting access to the files in someone else's account. You're getting a copy of the files in your own account, and as the files exist in your account, they take up space.
https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/storage-space
... all my account should need is links, not the full file.
That's what Hannah was suggesting when she said you could ask the owner for a view-only shared link to the files instead. You would be able to view any files in the share without adding them to your own account.
Otherwise if you're a member of the share, then the files will exist in your account taking up space.
Yes, I understand the way it works. It's a dumb design to unnecessarily duplicate storage space. And it introduces the problem of keeping multiple copies synchronized.
If a view-only link is the solution, than the recipient should be able to determine he wants a view-only link, not just the sender.
An alternative solution would be to allow downloading of files from Dropbox and subsequent deletion of those files from Dropbox WITHOUT unsubscribing from the folder.
