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Forum Discussion
How do I delete files from Dropbox without deleting them from my computer and other devices?
I do not use Dropbox for backup storage; I use a different service for that. But friends and fellow students sometimes want to share files in Dropbox, so I set up a free account. Somehow, I don't k...
Rich
Super User II
Super User IIIt's only going to remove the photos from the Dropbox folder on your computers. If those photos are stored elsewhere on your drive, they will not be deleted.
If you want to be certain, move the photos out of the Dropbox folder to a new location on your drive. They'll be removed from your account online (freeing up space) as well as the Dropbox folders on any other computer linked to your account.
- This was not my experience. I deleted files on dropboxAnd the corresponding files on my computer were indeed deleted. And I’m not talking about the ones in the dropbox folder. I had originally copied my music folder on windows eight to the dropbox folder. According to the explanation above as I understand it, the files in the dropbox folder should’ve been deleted but the ones in the music folder Should’ve remained. Any thoughts?
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
- Thank you Daphne for replying so promptly. The thing is, I think I copied not moved those files from my music folder into my dropbox folder. The files are (Or were) still present in my original, non-dropbox music folder as well as in dropbox, so doesn’t that meaning I did a copy? That is , when I’m in the Dropbox folder, my music folder is there, and when I leave the dropbox folder and Do the usual FileExplorer thing, there’s a music folder there as well. I can see the music folder in both places.
Thank you so much. I'll give that a try.
Like the other person, I only use this Dropbox account to backup photos/videos and then remove them to another safe place. This message that it will delete the files from ALL DEVICES is new and scares me! I have linked my boss and his wife's cell phones and both their iPads. I do NOT want to delete the files on their devices!! I simply want to take their cloud files out of Dropbox and move them to somewhere else...safely backed up. What can I do to INSURE that I'm not deleting their files from their phones/iPads??
Thanks buddy, everything is gone from my documents on dropbox and my PC. Terrible advice. It has gone from recycling bin too.
It deleted the files from my desktop- gave me no other choice than to delete everywhere...this is not a good answer
- Daphne
Hey suzanna!
Do you have the computer backup enabled to sync your Desktop files?
The delete everywhere notification is referring to deleting the file in your Dropbox account and connected devices.
If the computer backup is enabled and syncing your Desktop/Downloads/Documents files, then the deletion of the file is synced in the location that was chosen to sync.
You'll need to disable the computer backup feature first, to stop syncing those files to Dropbox.
Let me know if this helps!
Hello and thanks for working hard to answer this question which continues to perplex me. I assumed that using Dropbox to back up files on my computer would result in Dropbox making copies of files on my computer and putting them in the Dropbox cloud. I think that's how other backup systems work. Normally nothing happens to files on my computer unless I move them (not copy them) to the cloud. In fact in order to backup files, don't they have to be files on the hard drive of my computer in the first place? Your comments seem to imply that Dropbox doesn't just copy files to the Dropbox cloud but that it takes them and MOVES them to the Dropbox cloud so that they no longer exist independently on my computer. Because of that the Dropbox "backup" files are not really backups because they are now the only files. Therefore deleting them from Dropbox deletes them completely from their original location. As I understand it, now that I have made a "backup" to Dropbox (thereby moving my files) I cannot just delete those files from Dropbox without having them also deleted on my computer unless I now copy the Dropbox files I want to save back to my computer. This would be true even though the files were all originally files on my computer. Am I understanding you correctly and does this describe what happens with a Dropbox backup? Thanks so much for helping me to understand how to deal with this!
Dropbox will not let me move (or even see) any of my files because it says that I am out of space and must get more space. Any ideas as to what I can do now.
I am also having a similar problem. I wished to delete some files from Dropbox to save space because it was no longer synchronising because I had reached my limit. When I deleted some files and tried adding some different files, it said it could not synchronise because I still didn't have enough space. So, having backed up the files I wished to delete, I thought if I permanently deleted those files I would then have enough space, but I received a message saying that permanently deleting files does not free up space! If so, that means that once you have used up to your limit, the only solution is to buy more capacity, because you can never free the space you have used! Is that correct, or am I doing something wrong?
Just don't use it - its a dangerous program and you will probably lose your files at some stage. For Gods sake don't try to delete any of them to make space
Rich - I don't know if this is correct. Several years ago I lost a lot of photos and videos which were stored on computer and some of them which were on an external hard drive were deleted too. I have never used Dropbox since and its about time that Dropbox sorted out this deletion of other files stored elsewhere which they should have no access to change.
How can one remember which is the original photo or video or whether that particular file has been safely stored elsewhere when one deletes from Dropbox .
I have read about so many people losing photos and files - its iniquitous that this is still going on.
