How to free up space in your Dropbox account

[John W.87]

I've unshared many folders, permanently deleted lots of files but dropbox still reports that it is full.  How can I free up space?  I've already followed dropbox instructions with no results

[Mark]

As well as unsharing you also need to delete the files. Basically if you can see things at www.dropbox.com/home they use your quota.

Deleted files use no space so permanently deleting makes no difference.

[Rich · Accepted solution]

Permanently deleting files isn't needed to clear space. Simply deleting them is enough. Files in the Deleted Files section do not count against your storage quota.

If Dropbox is saying your account is full, then it's still full. You need to remove enough files to bring your account back below your quota before that message will go away. It could be that you're still a member of a large share that just keeps filling your account as you make more room.

You can verify your storage usage on your Account page. It will show you a breakdown of what's using your storage (regular files, shared files, etc.), which hat may help you identify files that you can remove to free up some more space.

[Norah]

Hey John W.87, welcome to Dropbox Community!

I ran a small search on my end and I was able to locate your open request on our system which is being handled by a higher level of Support. 

Feel free to let me know if you have any further inquiries!

[Matthew78]

If you have Dropbox on your desktop/computer, copy the files onto your computer and then delete them from Dropbox. That way you will still have saved whatever files you copied and then they will be out of your Dropbox account. I suggest looking at what files are older and that you do not access frequently.

[Jcaskey]

Deleting very large files didn't free up any space acording to  my Dropbox message. My box still shows the same data as before I deleted them. Help please.

[Mark]

If you deleted them from your computer have you given the account time to sync back to a green tick and thus update the online account?

[Flow9]

What you mean by Files in the Deleted Files section do not count against your storage quota?

[Mark]

Once a file is deleted and you can no longer see it at www.dropbox.com/home Dropbox saves a version of that file for 30 days. Those files no longer count against your quota.

They obviously do, however, if you restore them.

[jsailsbery]

I'm having the exact same issue. Ironically, I have been moving files around to free up space. I did not add anything. Now DropBox says that I'm above quota. So, I deleted 15Gb of files from my Dropbox folder on my PC and, at the same time, on the Dropbox home online. It did not help. Dropbox still says the EXACT same amount used. And the **bleep** thing isn't syncing from my PC - because I've used too much space. Agh!

Feel painted into a corner on this one Dropbox.