Files from others shared with me uses MY space allocation -- WHY??

[BxD]

I am new to this, using the free version for now.  One thing I don't understand is why files that do not belong to me that are shared with me take up space on my space allocation.  They are not my files, so why do they take up space for me (and whoever else shared with)?  That seems like charging multiple times for the same file that is in 1 location (the user's area that they shared.

[Nosferath]

Yes, Dropbox actually uses the space in every user's account that shares the shared folder. This behavior is not shared by services such as Google Drive, we should petition Dropbox to change it.

[Lusil · Accepted solution]

Hey @BxD and @Nosferath, 

Since every member of a shared folder can add and modify the files in it, 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.

Spoiler

In general, your Dropbox quota is calculated based on the total amount of contents in your account, which includes shared folders. As such, a Dropbox account can't sync more than its quota, so a 2 GB account can't sync more than 2 GB. 

If you'd like to receive a folder without impacting your account’s storage, you can ask the sender to share a link to the folder, instead, which allows you to view/download the content.

Finally, if you’d to have a little more storage, you can earn space. For more info on this, check out this article.

I hope this helps to some extent!

[bm11]

I have a similar issue.  I have space being taken up by files dropped into one of my Shared Dropbox folders.  I want to remove those files to free up space in my own Dropbox folder.  But does that mean others who share the folder can’t see the files any more either?  In other words, if I delete them,  no one who is sharing the folder can see them any more?  I don’t want to prevent others from using them but need more space. 

[Lusil]

Hey there @bm11, 

If you have edit rights to the shared folder, you can delete files from it, which means that, as you also mention, files that you remove will be removed for every other member, as changes to content in the folder are reflected for all. 

If you want to be able to view the folder but without taking up storage space, you can ask the owner to send you as a shared link to it instead, which gives you view-only permissions. 

If you want to then remove the shared folder from your account, you can do so by following the steps outlined here. 

I hope this helped to some extent!

[Alanlw]

I have had a free Dropbox acount for a good while (and very useful it is too). It has been 90-95% full of late. 

A few days ago I was sent an invitation to view and edit in a shared folder in a new account which, according to the owner, is an unlimited account. I access this folder through my existing Dropbox account. I have uploaded a number of additional files to this folder as has another colleague.  The result is that I now get a message than I am over my personal space limit! Although I can access these shared new files and I cannot access some of my own older files as these are above the limit.

How do I get round this? Do I need to create a second Dropbox account and access the new folder via that?

Thanks.

[Daphne]

Hi @Alanlw, I hope you're having a good day so far!

I've just merged your post here as Lusil has explained this kind of situation above and has some great advice on what you can do to resolve this.

When you have the chance, please just take a look at her replies above and let us know if you have any other questions about this.

I hope this helps!