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ClayNewman's avatar
ClayNewman
Explorer | Level 4
3 years ago
Solved

Out of storage space, dropbox won't let me delete anything.

I'm not giving dropbox any money for storage space soooo just don't use dropbox any more? I deleted the few files that I had access to on my dropbox account. When I try to permanently delete them I get this error message: "unable to delete those files". I get that message regardless of how few or many files I try to delete. Dropbox also keeps reminding me that deleting files won't clear storage space. I just need to send and receive the occasional video, but it sounds like I'll be doing that on WeTransfer or Drive from now on.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    3 years ago

    ClayNewman wrote:

    It says I'm using 0 of 2 GB. 


    Then your account is empty. There's nothing else you need to do. You should be fine.

10 Replies

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

    Hi ClayNewman, welcome to our Community! 

     

    Please bear in mind that deleted and permanently deleted files don't count against your storage quota. Permanently deleting files after they have already been deleted doesn't free any more space in your Dropbox. You can find out more info about this here

    Can you please take a look at your plan page and let me know how much space it says you're using?

     

    Is it possible that you've enabled our Backup feature on the Dropbox application? 

     

    Keep me posted! 

  • ClayNewman's avatar
    ClayNewman
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago
    Hi Megan. It says I’m over the minimum for a basic membership. My backup feature is not enabled. WeTransfer time?
  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hey ClayNewman, the plan page that Megan linked in her previous reply should show you exactly how much space your using out of your available space.

     

    If it shows that you're over the 2 GB that the free account offers, you'll need to delete more files.

     

    If you don't know which files are taking up your space, you can use the steps here, to see the size of your files and calculate the size of your folders, so that you can delete them accordingly.

  • ClayNewman's avatar
    ClayNewman
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago
    So does deleting files actually accomplish anything or not? I’ve deleted every file I had access to. Does that mean I’m still going to need to upgrade my membership in order to use Dropbox?
  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hey Clay.

     

    Simply deleting files, does free up space; permanently deleting the already deleted files, though, won't free up any more space.

     

    Do you mean that your 'all files' page is empty?

  • ClayNewman's avatar
    ClayNewman
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    My "all files' page has a few empty folders and no files as far as I can tell. I have no idea what I have left to delete, and I have no idea where to find it. All I know is I've deleted every file I can find, then permanently deleted those files, and dropbox is still telling me that I need to upgrade to get more space. What am I doing wrong? 

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    3 years ago

    ClayNewman wrote:

    All I know is I've deleted every file I can find, then permanently deleted those files, and dropbox is still telling me that I need to upgrade to get more space. What am I doing wrong? 


    What does your Plan page show for a breakdown of your usage (Regular, Shared, Backup, etc.)? Provide a screenshot if you can.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    3 years ago

    ClayNewman wrote:

    It says I'm using 0 of 2 GB. 


    Then your account is empty. There's nothing else you need to do. You should be fine.

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