Mystery Photos on my account

[jonsymbolgoodman]

Long story short: I have to free up space and these photos are mysterious in origin -- and I don't know what to call that 'menu item' on the left edge to be able to search for it in help in order to work out the problem... Yes, I know it's "Photos" : P But searching 'photos' in Help leads to 10 kajillion help topics, where what I need to do is to unfollow whatever that thing is...

Also, this account is part of a work team and no one is quite sure where these photos are coming from and the admins don't know what this 'folder' is... For the blue folders there I can find a way to unfollow or follow, but the upper items are more elusive (and only show up on browser view, not in the app)...

[Jay]

Hi @jonsymbolgoodman, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If you click one of the photos, does it show its location on the right hand side?

This will help me to assist further!

[jonsymbolgoodman]

Down the righthand side, there is a space for comments...

[Walter]

Hey @jonsymbolgoodman - sorry to jump in here, but could you navigate to these files and check their version history?

Also, based on your screenshot it seems that you're using a personal account on the Basic plan and those folders are normal folders stored in the account, not shared ones so I'll need you to elaborate on what you mean by '(un)following' them. Were you referring to the relevant feature perhaps? 

[jonsymbolgoodman]

So the account was created to be able to access shared files for work. I haven't linked it to anything, but was 'invited' to join the shared space. I'm the only one in the group who is getting "out of space" notifications, and am trying to figure out how to drop stuff to make space so I can actually work... These are not photos I uploaded, so they came from *somewhere* right?

If I'm the only one whose storage is full, there must be something I'm linked into which no one else is, and this bunch of photos seemed to be the most likely culprit...

[Walter]

When you say a shared space, do you mean a shared folder perhaps @jonsymbolgoodman?

If so, note that those take up space on all of the accounts that are members of the share. 

Just to make sure if that's the case,  could you check your plan tab and let me know what you see in regards to your quota?

[jonsymbolgoodman]

So there are a number of terms here that I'm unclear on... we have a number of folders that we use for work, I don't know if there is a collective term for that shared matter or not...

I am thoroughly unclear on why a document that's on the cloud takes up space in multiple accounts, if that's what you're saying. My initial understanding when it was all set up was that the files existed for the company (in some sense) and that those of us who need them could access them as needed and our changes would be saved in the 'master file' so the next person could see them (or indeed, we could see that two of us were working on them simultaneously, as a couple times has been the case). Why this would impact my account, I don't understand.

When things were working, all of the files in the app had a little cloud-and-arrow icon next to them, as if to say, "this is on the cloud, download it if you need it". Then if I accessed a file, I'd have to click it and get a menu with an option to "make online-only", which I would do, presumably so that there would only be one unified version existing solely on the cloud again.

The Photos section seen in my screen grab is not part of the usual work space. I didn't even know it was there until I opened the browser version of the account, having used the desktop app version exclusively at first. So I don't know where it comes from.

I did recently stumble into a section of the account where there was a breakdown of what was in it, and it only added up to something like 1.6 GB or so... wish I'd gotten a screen grab of that, since I can't find that breakdown again right now... but it would be interesting to know what that mean, and why I'm told the account has 2.1 GB in it.

And I do appreciate all the input and help -- thank you!

[jonsymbolgoodman]

So I have folders in the 'collective' that I seriously never need access to... I found in Help that I can remove myself from them with the option to 're-join' them later if the need exists.

However, the terminology/iconography is not pretty:

Actually following this advice involves clicking on a trash can icon -- "Delete" and "Trash can" don't feel like the right labels! Doing this, am I really just removing these items for myself and they're still there for everybody else? I don't want to be the person who deleted a large useful file for the entire company.

[Rich]

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@jonsymbolgoodman wrote:

I am thoroughly unclear on why a document that's on the cloud takes up space in multiple accounts ...

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Every member of a shared folder has their own copy of the folder in their account, and that copy syncs with all other members. You're not all accessing one master copy of the folder. It's also a method used to prevent people from stacking multiple accounts for unlimited space.

https://help.dropbox.com/storage-space/shared-folder-count-against-storage

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... the files existed for the company ... and that those of us who need them could access them as needed and our changes would be saved in the 'master file' ...

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If you're a member of a Business team account then yes, the storage available to the team is used by all members, but that's not the case if individual accounts and shared folders are in use. If you're just using shared folders, each member has their own individual account and anything in the account, including shared folders they join, takes up space in the account.

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... we could see that two of us were working on them simultaneously ...

Some file types allow for simultaneous editing if you use the Dropbox website to open the file online. This isn't the case when opening the file from your computer or other device.

A good example of how each member has their own copy of the files is you each go into the Dropbox folder on your computer and open the same file, make a change and save it, you'll see two things; you're not able to simultaneously edit the file as you've each opened a different copy, and if multiple people make a change and save, you'll end up creating conflicted copies with each person's changes in a different copy.

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... I'd have to click it and get a menu with an option to "make online-only", which I would do, presumably so that there would only be one unified version existing solely on the cloud again.

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That's not what online-only means or how it works. When you have a file marked as online-only, it means that the file as you see it on your computer is just a placeholder so you can see the file in your account. It doesn't actually exist on your computer. If you open the file, it's downloaded to your computer and opened as it normally would. As soon as you make changes and save, Dropbox syncs those changes with your account online and with anyone else that has access. You don't need to mark the file as online-only for that to happen.

Available offline and online-only refers to the state of the files on your local drive, that's all. Available offline means the file is on your computer taking up local drive space. Online-only means the file isn't loaded to your local drive but it still exists in your account.

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The Photos section seen in my screen grab is not part of the usual work space. ... So I don't know where it comes from.

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The Photos page is a special page that shows all of the photos and videos from every folder in your account, including shared folder. It's not an actual folder within your Dropbox.

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I did recently stumble into a section of the account where there was a breakdown of what was in it ... wish I'd gotten a screen grab of that, since I can't find that breakdown again right now...

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You can find the breakdown of usage in your account on your Plan page.

[Rich]

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@jonsymbolgoodman wrote:

Doing this, am I really just removing these items for myself and they're still there for everybody else?

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Yes. If you click Delete you'll receive a confirmation explaining the process before it actually deletes it. You can also remove a folder from your Dropbox from your Sharing page.