Dropbox is empty but the system is saying it is full.

[johnbryce]

I have been getting lots of emails from Dropbox telling me to upgrade as I am apparently using 105% of my space when in fact my Dropbox is empty!

I have a basic account but i have 16.75GB of space.   The system says I have used 17.57GB of space.

I did have some files in my Dropbox which were about 10GB in size and I deleted them thinking this would free up space but the opposite is the case.

Before I deleted these files I had used very nearly all my 16.75GB of space but when I deleted these 10GB of files, instead of giving more space it then said I am using more space....ie the amount of space I had went from 98% of usage to 105% of usage it now says I am using 17.57GB of space when in fact my Dropbox is now empty!  Go figure that one out if you can??

[johnbryce]

I should add that I know it sounds a bit strange when I say I only had 10Gb of files in my Dropbox and I had used nearly all of my 16.75GB but it was Dropbox that was telling me I had used nearly all of my space and although I found it a bit strange I thought if I delete my 10GB of files that should cure the problem.  

But it seems to have made the situation worse and now there are all deleted and my Dropbox is apparently empty the system now says I am using 17.57GB of space which is 105% of my space allocated. So even stranger!

Any help with this would be very much appreciated thanks

[Nancy]

I’m sorry to hear about this, @johnbryce. 

Do you mind sharing a few screenshots with me first? I’d like to get a closer look. 

More specifically, I’d like you to send me a screenshot of what you see here and here. 

Give me a nudge, when you’ve got more updates!

[johnbryce]

Hi Nancy, 

Thank you for replying, here is the screen shots you requested.

Jack

[Jay]

Hi @johnbryce, it seems you have a Dropbox Backup running, which is taking up all the quota on your account, and possibly more files which have yet to sync.

If you'd like to disable it, which would free up the quota on your account, you can follow these steps.

Keep me updated with any progress!

[MSX174]

I had a similar issue with shared files & regular files. The combination of these 2 file structures pushed by storage over my limit.

Solution:

when you open drop box on webpage, go to the top left hand of the page. Look for the 9 dots.

1. click the 9 dots. 
2. Then select the 4 option down, "back ups"
3. When you open this you will find all the "regular files" drop box has been backing up. This is super frustrating, as it seems to happen independently. this is contrast to when folders are shared with you.  
4. Once you have cleared your back up, then this will free up space in your shared folders

[ocapacha]

Hello,
I'm having the exact same problem. I'm using 339.8 MB of my 2 GB Dropbox Basic quota with 1.6 GB of free space, but I still receive emails saying that I need to upgrade my account. And I'm not using any backup solution. I'm on a Linux system & don't even have the desktop app installed.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Stefan

[Walter]

Hey @ocapacha, sorry to hear about this.

Can you please take a look at your backups page and let me know if you see any files or folders taking up space there?

[ocapacha]

Hi Walter,
Nope, there's nothing in there:

[Jay]

Hi @ocapacha, are you a member of any shared folders, or do you have an App folder on your account taking up quota?

You can calculate the size of folders using these steps.