2025 sparked some incredible conversations across our community 👩💻. Discover the highlights and see what’s ahead in 2026.
Forum Discussion
Solomon N.
9 years agoNew member | Level 1
"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/freeThanks,
Dom
51 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Erica e.410 years agoNew member | Level 1
I keep getting a 'Your Dropbox is full." notification, even after I deleted most of my files. Why is this happening? Does this mean I have to begin paying for more space even though I am not using all the space?
- Tom_H10 years ago
Super User alumni
Erica,
Make sure the message is about your Dropbox space and not the hard drive space on your computer being low. There have been a lot of those lately.
- Dave S.910 years agoNew member | Level 1
I am getting the same error message (it's a business account) but it says I've used 500Gb out of 2Gb. And when I check my files, I only have 700Mb.
It is definitely not the hard drive space on my computer - free space on the C drive is 231Gb.
Any suggestions? How can I contact DB support directly?
- Joshua L.1510 years agoNew member | Level 1
I'm having this problem with my Dropbox as well.
This is a company computer and I need access to my company dropbox. I was given access to all of the folders on the account but for some reason only a portion of them show up on my desktop. I have to log in to see them which makes dropbox absolutely worthless (coupled with their non-responsiveness I can't imagine we'll be using them very much longer).
On top of not having access on the desktop to all of the files and folders I received a notification that my Dropbox is full even though we've recently just purchased an upgrade. I have 2Gb of a Tb used and I still have gigs of storage on my harddrive.
They need a help desk.You asked this question in May and there hasn't been a response from them.
- Lee B.2910 years agoNew member | Level 2
I just received a "Dropbox is full" message, when I'm currently using about 161GB of my terabyte of storage. I think it's related to one shared folder, because that folder hasn't updated since another user added around 100 photos to it yesterday.Those pix would chew up some storage, but not 800 GB. Outside of that folder, all seems to be well with Dropbox sync.
- Paul G.279 years agoNew member | Level 1
Dropbox says that I am using 3.1GB of 2.5GB. I have no files in any of my folders. A friend has shared files with me - but all in his folder, all with his ownership. None are on my desktop.
I am getting the message:
"Your Dropbox is full. Upgrade now for 1 TB (1,000 GB) of space and sharing features."When your Dropbox is full, you are unable to sync files across devices and join shared folders. Get more space to lift these restrictions."How do I get rid of this message?
About Storage Space
Looking for help with managing the storage space in your Dropbox account? Talk to the Dropbox Community and get advice from members.
The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!