cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

Storage Space

Looking for help with managing the storage space in your Dropbox account? Talk to the Dropbox Community and get advice from members.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Dropbox data space on Android

Dropbox data space on Android

Nic11
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution
Hi everybody,
Dropbox app is actually taking 3gb on my phone (Samsung S7).
In dropbox online guide they suggest to free space deleting cache memory, but on my phone dropbox cache memory is only 32 mb at the moment, the apk is 160mb (more or less) while the 3 gb is dropbox user data!
I suppose if I delete all user data from Samsung Maintenance software I will lose also my dropbox account settings and in the worst chance also the data i loaded from the phone and now availables for other users.
If I delete single files from dropbox app, they are no more available on the account so... The question is:
How to free space on the phone deleting the files only on the local phone memory and not from the cloud? (please don't answer to delete cache memory :D)
1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
I’d recommend giving the reinstallation of the mobile app a shot, although you mention:

@Nic11 wrote:
but I will lose all my settings
Could you please clarify what you’re referring to? 
 
Thanks in advance, @Nic11!

Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

View solution in original post

25 Replies 25

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Hi @Nic11!
 
If you're running out of device space, removing files you've made available offline will free up space on your phone. If that doesn’t work, you can try reinstalling the mobile app - maybe that will do the trick. 
 
However, if you're running out of Dropbox space, you can remove unwanted content from your account and leave any shared folders that put you over quota. You can also increase your storage by earning space
 
Let me know of any updates! :grin:

Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

Nic11
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution
Hi Lusil and tks for your answer.
I'm not running out of dropbox space. I'm running out of device space, but the problem is that I have not made available offline any file!
If I select one ore more of those files in dropbox app, in the menu I can choose to moka them available offline so it seems like the app thinks they are not on the device but they are and if I delete them, they will be removed also from the cloud. Reinstalling the mobile app maybe will temporally solve the problem, but I will lose all my settings and in few weeks the problem will appear again...

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
I’d recommend giving the reinstallation of the mobile app a shot, although you mention:

@Nic11 wrote:
but I will lose all my settings
Could you please clarify what you’re referring to? 
 
Thanks in advance, @Nic11!

Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

@Nic11 wrote:
Reinstalling the mobile app maybe will temporally solve the problem, but I will lose all my settings and in few weeks the problem will appear again...

You're referring to the cached files that Dropbox will temporarily store during the normal use of the app.

When you view or open a file in the Dropbox app, it needs to be downloaded to your device before it can be opened. Dropbox downloads these files to a cache and stores them temporarily. In the iOS version of the app there's a Clear Cache button in Settings, though I've never had much luck with it actually clearing anything. Typically, only uninstalling and reinstall the app would clear the cached files, but that will also clear any files you've marked as available offline.

Nic11
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution
Hi Rich,
In android to there is a clear cache button, but as I said in my first post, the problem was (and it will be again) that it is not cache memory that increase during time, but user data app memory.
Anyway, uninstalling and reinstalling the app solved the problem, but probably I will have to do it again in some months since there's not a user data clear button...

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Should you need any further assistance or the issue persists, don’t hesitate to get back to us. 
 
In the meantime, have a great day ahead, @Nic11:grinning:

Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

karencrouch
Explorer | Level 3
Go to solution

Hi. I have the same issue.  My Samsung Android is taking 26G of space.  I cleared cache, but that didn't do anything    Cache is zero.   But it says data is 26G.  Can I simply 'clear data' on my phone?  Will it leave all in cloud in tact and not delete any files?   (I suppose I could uninstall and reinstall dropbox app...but if clear data works, I probably should just do that).

 

thanks!

-Karen

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution
Hey Karen!
 
You could try clearing your cache from your phone, and if that doesn’t work, reinstalling it might do the trick. If you’re still experiencing some trouble with this, let me know!
 
Cheers! :upside_down:

Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

Micheal2
New member | Level 2
Go to solution
An alternative might be to open Dropbox on your laptop if you have one and perhaps you can download your files to your hard drive before you try any of these other suggestions, just to feel safe about your files
Need more support?
Who's talking

Top contributors to this post

  • User avatar
    Daphne Dropbox Staff
  • User avatar
    Sharir New member | Level 2
  • User avatar
    Buddy M New member | Level 2
  • User avatar
    A_M Explorer | Level 4
  • User avatar
    WhatsYourCowboyName New member | Level 2
What do Dropbox user levels mean?