Dropbox full because of shared folder

[Michele A.]

Hi, i have a dropbox account and the free space that i have is full because of the files inside the shared folder that i have with some friends.
Is there a way to avoid that the shared folder that uses the free space of my account without cancelling those folder?
Because i have no more space and i haven't uploaded any files

Excuse me for my english but i found problem on trying to traduce this message from my language

[Kirk L.1]

Hello,
New user here; trying to test DB before signing up for paid service.  Experiencing the same problem others have reported: DB marketing materials stated that I would have 2GB of "free" introductory storage, but now it is used up after one third party accessed our single shared folder - despite the fact that the folder size is only around 800MB.  Have read through the DB help materials and the discussions posted here and still don't have a clear idea of how to make the remaining 1200MB available again (or, for that matter, the entire 2GB after the 800MB folder is deleted).  Suggestions?  Thanks!
KL 

[DaveC2]

If the shared folder only had 800mb in it thats all of the 2gb it would have consumed.

If you found all 2GB used then the shared folder likely had more in it.

Deleting the shared folder will restore the space it was using. (you may experience need to refresh your browser window to get correct free space)

[Pastors Fred &]

I agree with the people who have posted here.  I don't understand why dropbox charges me for data that is in other people's account who have shared their folder with me.  As a church we use dropbox to transfer files created at home to our church computers.  This works well for large files ... then after we access and save the data saved to our church computers we clean out the dropbox.  We recently were joined with another user that pays for larger data storage.  Within minutes, because we have the limited free account our dropbox was full and we were unable to load anything more.  We only needed to access a few of the files that were stored in the other person's shared folder.  But dropbox said that data also belonged to our dropbox.  Seems like double charging of data to me.  So we had to create another email address and access this folder only via dropbox.com and not from the app on the computer.

[Pastors Fred &]

Just one other thing .... if the files are not created by my account but by someone else who shared THEIR files with me ... why should it count toward my 2 gb of space.  It should only be applied to the original user account who created the file.

Thank you for providing this forum to express our frustration to this. But I think we can do this without being emotional and being angry.  Through this forum, I believe that people would like to be able to come up with solutions or alternate work around ways to the problems that are posted.  Just like Dropbox does state the facts in their FAQ if we search for it.  So they have done their legal duty.  It doesn't make sense that it is not posted up front ... which is the frustration that most people are expressing .... but again let's find ways to work with it until dropbox or another application comes up with a way to eliminate this particular problem. 

We chose to leave the shared folder and rejoin it on an email address that we created just to access this folder when we need it. Which is the answer to my question that I began with.

So let's try to treat others with how we want to be treated when we respond to each others posts.

[Kirk L.1]

After receiving the e-mail alert "Your Dropbox is full and is no longer syncing files. New files added to your Dropbox folder won't be accessible on your other devices and won't be backed up online." I have deleted the single 800mb folder that DropBox indicated used up my 2GB allotment.  Do I need to do anything else to to get my DropBox syncing files again?  I will have a new batch of photos for the same client a week from now and don't want to hit any snags. Thank you.

[Puneet M.]

wow .... Nice thread. It's helped me a lot to understand the Dropbox Business Model. 

Let me try to have some points here ..

#1 The problem is for Paid user. Because they thought that they are paying for 1 TB space (example).. but actually they are paying for 1 TB content, which may be or may not be useful for them.

#2 Above point should be clearly mentioned in the DB main page. Wrong marketing. Sorry I am not a paid customer else I can ask them to pay my money back. 😞

#3 Now, what DB can do to solve this issue keeping current Business Model. Provide a option to Sync All or do selective sync on file basis (not on folder basis). I can see all file names whenever anyone share some chunk of data, but I can have option for selective sync the file, which will consume my space or say my Quota. 

#4 - another option which can solve remaining problem - We should also have control on what type of permission me want. Just read or Read+write. If I opt read permission - No consumption of my personal  Quota but if I choose R+W, then it consume my Quota also.

So in short,

If Dropbox wants to play long term in Cloud base service .. then They have to think in this way also. #3 and #4 are best features which they can provide. 

Anyone who think these are not the best Idea? I am curious to hear from someone who is So called very fascinate about the DB business model. #3 and #4 make sense or not ?

[Dave C.5]

#1 you pretty well wrapped that up clearly.

#2 correct, but then they market it with untruths already so what do you expect.

#3 the option would be nice, but isnt selective sync as that is per machine and selective of what that machine syncs, maybe "shared sync" but i would see this being a large server side rebuild as they dont even have good backbone to share let alone permissioned/synced share.

#4 Being R or RW IMHO doesnt change that you HAVE the file, just how your allowed to change it, what I would put forward as a solution to sharing to free accounts etc, is to offer the paid account thats sharing to OWN the traffic/content/space of the shared file in the other account.

So 1TB account has 200GB in it and shares 20GB with 2 free accounts, thats 200+20x2=240GB used (not the nicest but a compromise i expect many paid accounts would be happy to do and also stop them sharing files with 10,000 people expecting DB to host that out at no extra costs)

[Puneet M.]

 #2 - I just want everyone to raise voice against them.

 #3 - Selective sync is right now available (which is on folder basis). So changing that to file basis should not be a big task (as per my understanding.. I am not Computer expert, so Can't comment on that). Syncing per machine is not a feasible option because then people can sync different data at different devices and it will not solve DB's problem. For shared folder it should be per account.

#4 your option (sharing with only 2 people or limited people ) will create problem in DB concept. 🙂

Let me propose another solution

#5

• Create a default folder inside Dropbox account "shared folder". - this can be done because they have "camera upload" default folder algo.
• User can control the size of the "shared folder". It's like another db account inside the Main Db account. 
• This "shared folder" works similar to what's happening right now in db.
• rest MAIN_DB_Space - shared_folder_space ... you can use as your normal cloud space.

I hope #5 can solve all the issue with minor changes and this is something unique from the competitor and help db also. 🙂  

[Dave C.5]

#3 selective sync is machine based, and is about what files you want to sync to that machine from the account. The selective sync you are suggesting would require server side recoding.

#4, i see no difficulty for DB in using one account space for deduction for all users specified, however I wont hold my breath as this would still just cost them money in less purchased accounts.

#5 see #4 reason for not expecting this, and that the facts are the Db costs are per connected device so shared folders add devices that adds costs to DB, not extar income options just are not going to be likely.

NB: I would love it if they were I just wont expect it.

[Puneet M.]

Yes Deve,

Lets hope DB try to understand user problem and comeup with some solution which is win-win for both (DB and their customer).