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Forum Discussion
Dropbox using 34GB of Memory at Idle
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Application Affected
Dropbox Desktop
Device
MacBook Pro, M4 Pro, 14-inch, Nov 2024
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Tahoe 26.3 (25D125)
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
242.4.5815
Question or Issue
I have a very fast laptop with 48 GB of memory. Yet constantly my computer lags because of Dropbox taking up an enormous amount of memory, for instance right now, it uses 34GB of memory. It is not currently sync'ing anything.
As far as I can tell from finder, there are only 87,000 files at 50GB in there in 16 folders in the Dropbox folder. I am already using selective sync and online only files. Unless these numbers are wrong and I should use another method to calculate it, this is well below the 300,000 files threshold Dropbox cites as the limit before performance breaks.
6 Replies
Amazing. So the AI chatbot doesn’t help me at all with my problem that makes Dropbox unusable, I can’t get in contact with a live person or email support despite being advertised as available on Dropbox’s own website. Then when I post on the forum, due to the amount of AI generated spam, my genuine post gets automatically flagged by AI as spam. Why do I pay for Dropbox?
- Rich
Super User II
I'm trying to leave a reply but four times now my post gets deleted, what's going on?
They were getting caught by the automated spam system, possibly due to the number of images in the reply. I've released the original reply that you tried to post.
I'm trying to leave a reply but four times now my post gets deleted, what's going on? How can I reply to this thread if it won't let me post my reply.
My Dropbox folder is in my $HOME folder '/Users/Username/Dropbox'.
I noticed this behaviour starting as soon as I started using Dropbox on my fresh laptop and synch'ed my files.
Files are up to date:
Properties (my username scrubbed for privacy):
I have already looked at the Help article.
As I have already mentioned in my post, there are less than 300,000 files.
The memory usage starts low whenever I restart my laptop OR if I close Dropbox and reopen it, after some time, and from there the memory use slowly accumulates, after a few days it reached 34GB:
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey there, flingfuelexit18171231, let's jump right into this!
As a first step, did you notice when this behavior started happening, and where is your Dropbox folder currently located?
Can you let me know more, in regards to the app's syncing status currently? Is it up-to-date or is it maybe stuck syncing content?
As for your content, can you right-click on your local Dropbox folder directly, go to its Properties and send me a screenshot of the next window you see there?
Feel free to also have a look at the relevant Help Center article, in order to investigate further.
Keep in mind that I want to make sure that there are less than 300k files located in your Dropbox folder at the moment. In some cases, having more files than that can cause performance issues to the Dropbox app.
Keep me posted!
This information is not required, but it makes it easier for our Community members and support team to help you.
Dropbox Plan
Plus
Payment Method
Card
How did you upgrade?
Directly through the Dropbox website)Question or Issue
I have a Dropbox Plus plan but can't access email support. Whenever I go to:https://www.dropbox.com/get_help
I am presented with a bot that keeps telling me to go to the above page in order to access email support. Infuriating.
According to this link:
https://help.dropbox.com/account-settings/customer-support-levels
I should have access to Email and Live Chat support as a Plus subscriber.
