Why doesn't deleting files free up space?

[ST108]

Why doesn’t deleting files/folders free up storage space?

[Denvergirl1]

I wonder that myself. I keep transferring files to One Drive or deleting them and drop box keeps saying it is full. Also, my word and excel files seem to save in Dropbox as well as desktop when I save them to desktop. Dropbox doesn't have a  phone number that I can find and I've very frustrated.

[Daphne]

Hey there @ST108 and @Denvergirl1, thanks for posting!

If you were using a lot of space over your account's allowed space limit, then you may need to remove a lot of data in order for the account to no longer be full.

Could you check your plan page here, to see exactly how much space you're currently using?

Also, where are you deleting the files from? Eg. the website, desktop app or mobile app.

Let me know and we can go from there!

[Denvergirl1]

My problem seems to be that Word and excel docs I'm trying to save on my desktop also save on dropbox even though I don't want them to. I don't know how to stop them from doing that.

[Walter]

Did you happen to enabled the computer backup feature at some point @Denvergirl1?

[Denvergirl1]

I don't think I did. I kept getting messages that dropbox was full awhile back and kept removing files but no matter how many I removed it kept happening. I only just now found that folders on my desktop were automatically also saving in dropbox. How do I eleminate it if that is what is happening?

[Walter]

Just follow the steps to disable it outlined in the article I linked above @Denvergirl1.

Keep us posted!

[Denvergirl1]

I found the dropbox desktop manager and opened it. I saw that both the desktop (11/20/2020) and the Real Estate (12/1/2020) pieces have a round blue circle with a white circle in it. That must mean something. Please let me know.

[Daphne]

If you're referring to a blue icon that looks like this, this means that the files are currently trying to sync with Dropbox, @Denvergirl1.

It seems that the computer backup feature is still enabled for your desktop app, to sync the Desktop.

You'll just need to follow the steps towards the bottom of the article that Walter linked previously, (for convenience, this article), and choose to keep the files on the computer instead of Dropbox in step 6.

If you have any trouble with these steps, let me know!