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Solomon N.'s avatar
Solomon N.
New member | Level 1
9 years ago
Solved

"Your Dropbox is full" but what is taking up my storage space?

On Mac air with newest OS. I uninstalled the app, checked the hard drive, restarted the computer, barked at the moon, clapped twice and prayed to allah. The problem remains. 

I refuse to pay to upgrade. I cannot sync additional files. 

  • Hi Paul!

    When you join a shared folder, that folder now resides in your Dropbox too and therefore takes up space.

    Your Dropbox quota is calculated based on the total contents of your Dropbox, which includes shared folders. A Dropbox account can't sync more than its quota, so a 2 GB account can't sync more than 2 GB, including the space taken up by shared folders. Because every member of a shared folder can add and modify the files in the shared folder, the shared folder takes up space in each member's account. This policy exists to prevent people from giving themselves unlimited space by stacking Basic accounts and shared folders.

    If you need a little more space, you can visit the following pages on our website to see how you can earn bonus space:

    - Earn bonus space by learning about Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/gs
    - Earn bonus space by referring people to Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals
    - Earn bonus space by telling people about Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/free

    Thanks,

    Dom

51 Replies

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

    Hello everybody,

    I have a problem with my Dropbox Account: it is complaining, that I've used up all my storage even though I have barely any files there. By now, I have remove every file out of my dropbox folder (on several devices), I have removed every device from synching, within the cloud storage I have (permanently) deleted every file in "all files" and most files in "shared" -- there are about 37mb of files left in "shared" (that i cant download and deleten and then permanently delete bc dropbox won't let me download them due to "not enough storage space"). Under "Plan" it says that there are 2.4GB of normal files, but there aren't any files. So my question is: how do I delete files I can't see and how do I create some space in my Dropbox?

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

    Hey RonaldK, welcome to our Community! 

     

    Can you send me a few screenshots of what is visible under your plan page? 

     

    Is it possible that you're using any Backups to your account?

     

    Keep me posted! 

  • puneetmishra's avatar
    puneetmishra
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago
    My storage limit is full (files on dropbox are of 14.8 GB, as per the account) but there is only 5.9 GB files in my dropbox folder. I have also checked the shared folder or files. I don't think that is an issue. 
     
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    3 years ago

    puneetmishra wrote:
    My storage limit is full (files on dropbox are of 14.8 GB, as per the account) but there is only 5.9 GB files in my dropbox folder.

    Do you have any backups enabled? Check your Backups page.

  • on4's avatar
    on4
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    Hi my dropbox says "Your Personal Dropbox account is full" but it isn't. When looking at how the storage is divided it says the regular files take up 26GB of my account. Whether I look at "files" on dropbox.com or in the dropbox file on my desktop, it only shows 4 tiny excel files. How can I find the regular files that are filling up my space? Or is this just a bug? Is there anyway to contact dropbox directly? Have been at this for hour hours and I can't find a solution, or even what's causing the problem.

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

    Dropbox says I have 254GB of data and have exceeded my limit, but I have nothing stored in dropbox

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

    Hey frdls, I hope you're doing well! 

     

    Can you send me a screenshot of your plan page, and what you see there? Do you happen to be a member on any shared folders, by any chance? 

     

    Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

About Storage Space

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