Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
How we use Dropbox: Sheena
We’re back again with another dive into how we, Dropboxers, use Dropbox. This time we have the ever wonderful, social media master, code queen, Sheena! And we can add family file manager to this ever-growing list! I’m from a large Irish family, which means I have tons of cousins, aunts and uncles, and of course my wonderful grandparents. As the eldest cousin on my mother’s side, it generally falls to me to keep the cousins in line, and to gather the best gossip for my Grandmother! About 6 years ago my Grandmother mentioned that she felt she was missing out, as all of her grandchildren would share their best photos on social media, and she didn’t get to see them. That year I created the first Christmas Family Calendar. It was created using simple calendar creation websites, of which there are tons. I first got the pictures by looking at the family’s Facebook profiles and choosing lovely pics from holidays, parties and events throughout the year that my Grandparents would not have seen. Throughout the years, many of us have stopped updating Facebook as often, and some have stopped using social media altogether, so I needed a new way to gather the photos. This is when Dropbox came in! Three years ago, I created a File Request for the calendar photos, sent the link to the whole family… and that’s it. The photo’s simply rolled in throughout the year. Every so often I would send a reminder to add their best pics using the file request. By the end of the year I had more than enough photos, many that were never seen before as they were just stored in one of our phones until that point. This year, since we hadn’t been able to see each other as much as usual, I created the Christmas Family Calendar for my Grandparents as normal, and then as a special bonus I was able to send the full collection of photos to the whole family as a digital memory book for the year. Family pixelated to protect identities. Group photos taken prior to Covid-19 restrictions. Thanks Sheena! I might have to steal this for myself… How do you use Dropbox to share family memories?Emojis in filenames are finally here! 🥳
Hey everyone! We’ve got some exciting news - Dropbox now supports way more characters in filenames and folders! Emojis are now supported across all surfaces, and it’s available to everyone! That means support for emojis like 🚀, 🎵, 🏴☠️, plus rare scripts like 𩸽, اللهِ, and even mathematical symbols like 𝛑 or 𝔸. This long-requested update fixes the issue of files not syncing properly due to unsupported characters, so everything now works just as expected. Whether you’re jazzing up a folder name with a little ✨ flair ✨or using your native language to stay in flow, we hope this update brings a little extra delight to your day and the way you work. Give it a go and let us know what you think! And of course, thank you to Link1328 for the idea and everyone who contributed to the thread! Let us know what you think, share your feedback or any other requests for characters to support below 👇 Happy organizing!
Publish to social media from Dropbox!
Hello! My name is Amanda. My team is building a feature to help users publish videos to their final destination — whether that’s social media, YouTube, your website, or elsewhere. We hear this task is repetitive and tiresome, and you shouldn’t have to waste time downloading and uploading videos to multiple places. Starting today, you can publish videos and photos directly from Dropbox to Instagram and Facebook**. Simply open a video or photo on www.dropbox.com, and click "Publish". Soon, we’ll let you schedule posts in advance, and post to YouTube. Note: This feature isn’t widely available to all users yet — if you don’t see the Publish button, reply to this thread with “opt-in” and we'll give your account access. 😉 If you’d like to collaborate and help shape the future of this feature, reply with “I’m ok for Dropbox to contact me by email” and we will reach out. **You must have an Instagram Business account and a Facebook Page to publish from Dropbox. See this article for support. ***Update - this feature has been temporarily postponed and there is no longer an "opt-in" option for it. Thank you for your continued patience.***
Product updates: edit photos and PDFs
Want to hear about one of the handiest Dropbox features I use regularly? Check out how easy it is to upload, edit, send, and sign PDFs in one place. No technical wizardry, no back-and-forth file conversions, and no additional software to install. New PDF editing features let you add text and more Not PDFs are ready to go, there's usually some info you need to add or edit, and now, editing them is as easy as click, click, click. We’ve added more tools to our new PDF editing feature so you can do more without changing programs. Now, within Dropbox, you can: Add text to documents: Insert descriptions, dates, notes etc., anywhere on a PDF and modify text font, color, size, and emphasis Page zoom: Adjust the page view for easier navigation These features are useful for managing work-related and personal documents. Our own team makes the most of editing PDFs to organize and consolidate receipts at home. Learn how to get started editing PDFs now. Edit PDFs on-the-go Need to make changes when you'er away from your desk? No worries, you can edit PDFs directly on your iPhone or Android device. Edit PDFs on iPhone: Add text or a signature to PDFs on your iPhone with the Dropbox mobile app. Edit PDFs on Android: The Dropbox smartphone app makes it easy to edit PDFs on your Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, or any other Android device. Work from wherever you are, without needing to switch between devices or apps to get things done. Automatically add watermarks to multiple files No one likes to have their work passed off as someone else’s - and now you can make sure it doesn’t happen to you with a few simple steps. Save time, ensure confidentiality, and protect your brand by applying a watermark automation to a new or existing folder. Then, every PDF and image added to the folder will be automatically watermarked. We’re big fans of automations that truly make life easier, and this one makes us very happy! To create an automation and learn more about watermarking, visit our automations page. I’m definitely excited about these updates, and will make serious use of the PDF editing tools on a regular basis! And you can check out how Lauren uses PDF editing to improve her workflow too! I’d love to know how you will make the most of these new features - tell us below!Community Member of the Month - April 2025
April has come and gone, and as we ease into the longer, brighter days of summer ☀️, it's of course that time to shine a light on our Community Member of the Month for April. Just like springtime, our Community has been blooming 🌼 with support and good vibes ✨. This month was so brilliant, we've decided to celebrate not one, but two Community Members of the Month 🎉. Please join us in congratulating itahoki and mcmeloni 🙌 These two have gone above and beyond, showing what true Community spirit looks like 💙. Their kindness, insight, and eagerness to help others haven’t gone unnoticed 👏. itahoki shared thoughtful advice and steady encouragement throughout April. Always positive and engaged, their contributions have made a real difference. Just have a look at this helpful post from the 4th of April: mcmeloni jumped into a conversation and shared their experiences and how they fixed an issue. This interaction was also top-tier Community spirit and vibes: We’ve got a special surprise for the both of you! 🎁 Simply reply to this message and we’ll make sure your token of appreciation is on its way to you ASAP 🚀. Think someone else deserves to be next month’s Community Member of the Month? 🌟 Let us know in the comments below ⬇️. And if you want to snag the spotlight yourself, jump into the fun, share your knowledge, start conversations, and spread the love by liking and commenting 💙.🌟🤝Community Spirit Badge 🤝🌟
Hey everyone! 🌟 It’s Theresa here. You’ve probably seen me hanging out in the Community, jumping into conversations and joining discussions (if you haven’t seen me before, well, hello 👋). And while doing that, I’ve noticed something pretty great (well, we all have here on the Dropbox Community Team) – so many of you are out here making this Community an amazing place. Whether you're helping others, sharing useful tips, or just bringing good vibes ✨, your contributions really stand out. To recognise and celebrate this, we’ve created a brand-new badge… This badge is all about celebrating the people who make this space feel like home. It’s for those who do more than just answer questions – the ones who offer a helping hand 🤝, share great tips 💡, and keep the good vibes flowing. Whether you're solving tricky problems 🧩, sharing useful resources 📚, or just making the Community a fun place to hang out 😃, we see you and we appreciate you. The Community Spirit Badge is a one-time award 🏆, so if you earn it, you know you're doing something special. It's a little extra recognition for those who truly bring the Community to life. We’re so excited 🎊 to launch this new badge and can’t wait to start recognizing the amazing individuals who truly bring the spirit of this Community to life. And if you spot someone who you think deserves the Community Spirit Badge, don’t hesitate to tag me Theresa within the thread. T 💙 (Dropbox Community Manager)Dropbox Basic: Let's Maximize Space
Try to think of your Dropbox cloud storage as a well organized bedroom. In order to maximize space, you want to be thoughtful about how you use each closet and section of the room. With your Dropbox Basic account you have 2 GB of storage. With this amount of storage its imperative that you are thoughtful about the files you save to your Dropbox account. If you know more about files sizes, you can make more informed decisions about which files you upload. In this article you will get a better understanding of how to maximize space with your Basic Dropbox account. What are the average file sizes of media we use daily? Images Many of use Dropbox to upload images, which come in several formats and sizes. These formats affect the amount of space the image may take up. Photos from our computers are usually in formats such as JPEG and PNG. This is great because these images often don’t take up as much space as larger format files. Image formatting (as in the space it takes up, not the dimensions of the photo itself) is based on resolution and quality of the pictures. I know this because I uploaded each type of image to my Dropbox Account and saw that the quality and difference in resolution affected the overall size. Larger pictures, such as raw camera footage (TIFF and BMP), should be converted to JPEG before uploading to your dropbox account. The rationale here is so that you save about 1000kB of space. Documents Documents overall take up the least amount of space. With your Basic account, you can save about 25,000 pages of word documents, depending on file size. If you use documents for planning and collaboration, I suggest you try using Dropbox Paper. Paper documents take up very little space on Dropbox. I would suggest placing homework assignments and projects that you may always need access to on your Dropbox account. I am currently working on creating my dissertation and have it saved on Dropbox - this document is super important to me and I need to ensure that I can access it from all of my devices. Media Files Video is the largest file format but that doesn’t mean you can’t store video files in your Dropbox Basic account. To make the video more compact you can use an online compressor, or, like I’ve done in the past, edit the videos to make them shorter. I have also experimented with changing the format of the video to reduce file size. Remember to treat your Dropbox like your well organized bedroom. You want to shrink larger items if you can and want to organize items that you know do not take up much space. I use my Dropbox account to hold my important documents, vacation photos and files from Dropbox Paper. Now that I know how much space each file takes up, I do my best to maximize my space. Let’s maximize our space by using the tips and tricks above - and if you have any other space saving tips, share them in the comments below!Community Member of The Month - March 2025
Wow how are we 3 months into 2025 already? Here (in Ireland), March brought longer days, the first hints of spring and of course, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. While the weather might still be unpredictable, one minute sunshine, the next a sudden downpour, one thing that remains constant is the kindness and support within our Community. This month, we are especially excited as we introduce our very first Community Member of the Month for 2025! And that honour goes to wetenhr Despite only joining last month, wetenhr has already embraced the true spirit of the Community. A perfect example of this was when they returned to a thread to update another user who had the same issue, letting them know that while it might take some time depending on their device, it worked for them. Their genuine enthusiasm and helpful nature embody what makes this Community so special, and we are incredibly grateful for all the support they have provided . By providing a solution on the Community, they have not only helped others but demonstrated their passion for Dropbox. Congratulations, wetenhr thank you for making our Community a better place. We have got a special surprise just for you! Simply reply to this message and we will make sure your token of appreciation is on its way to you ASAP. Think someone else deserves to be next month’s Community Member of the Month? Let us know in the comments below. And if you want to snag the spotlight yourself, jump into the fun, share your knowledge, start conversations and spread the love by liking and commenting. You could be the next to shine!How To Check If Your Space Is Being Used By A Shared Folder and How To Leave A Shared Folder
Shared folders are one of the easiest ways to collaborate with others while using Dropbox. Having a shared space makes everything simpler when you’re working on a project, sharing family photos or keeping your teams files all organised. But you might be wondering: Does this shared folder take up space in my Dropbox account? And what if I no longer need access - how do I leave it? Does a Shared Dropbox Folder Count Toward My Storage? It depends on how the folder was share with you and what level of access you have. Here’s how to check: Sign in to dropbox.com and click All files. Look for folders with a two-person icon 👥 - these are shared folders. Hover over the folder name and click the “…” (More) menu. Choose Share → then Settings. You’ll see one of these options: Can edit → the folders contents do take up space in your Dropbox account Can view → the folders contents don’t count toward your space Tip: You can also check shared folders directly from the Dropbox desktop app - the 2 person icon works the same way there too. How to Leave a Shared Dropbox Folder I No Longer Need If you see “Can edit” and you no longer need access, it’s really easy to remove yourself from the folder. Here’s how: Go to dropbox.com and sign in. Click Shared in the left sidebar. Find the folder you want to leave. Click the “…” (More) button next to it. Select Leave folder → and confirm. Once you leave: The shared folder and its files are removed from your Dropbox. They’ll no longer count toward your storage. Other members will still have access as usual. If you originally created the shared folder, you’ll need to transfer ownership before leaving. To do that: Open the folder’s Share settings. Click the dropdown beside another member’s name. Select Make owner → then leave the folder. That way, everyone who needs it still has access and the ownership transfers smoothly. And that’s it! Keeping your Dropbox account organised is a simple way to make more room for what matters most - your ideas, projects and memories. If you ever change your mind and want back into a folder in the future, just ask the owner to share it with you again. Got questions about shared folders? Drop them in the comments below or visit our shared folders FAQs. How do you organise and manage your shared folders? Join the conversation and let us know!
