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WreckItTim1's avatar
WreckItTim1
Helpful | Level 7
3 days ago

I can't delete a large folder due to "1 item couldn’t be permanently deleted" error.

I get this error when trying to permanently delete a folder in my trash. I checked, as suggested in the other discussion about this, and the folder is not shared (this was the problem in the other discussion). In fact, I am the only user on my account and have zero shared folders. I believe the problem is because the large amount of files within the folder, there are 37k, but I could be wrong. I have tried to delete again, as suggested by the error message, and from a different web browser (chrome, edge, and firefox), as suggested in the other discussion, all to no avail. I can not open the deleted folder to select files to manually delete, all though even if I could then it would be too tedious due to the large number of files.

In general, I would really appreciate a clear all trash button or even better, an option to completely turn trash off.

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  • WreckItTim1's avatar
    WreckItTim1
    2 days ago

    Thanks for the quick response! 
    After several attempts, and waiting for a couple of hours, it appears to have been permanently deleted. Maybe it just took some time to update, or something along those lines?

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    3 days ago

    Thanks for your post, WreckItTim1, and for trying all these troubleshooting steps.

    Can you test this via an incognito window to double check if the behavior persists there, as well?

    The issue could be lying in the folder’s size, like you also suggest. Another option would be to restore this folder instead and then attempt to delete and permanently delete the files individually, but this would be time-consuming indeed.

    Please try the incognito window as the next step, and if this doesn’t work, send me a screenshot of the error you’re getting. 

    We’ll go from there.

    • WreckItTim1's avatar
      WreckItTim1
      Helpful | Level 7
      2 days ago

      Thanks for the quick response! 
      After several attempts, and waiting for a couple of hours, it appears to have been permanently deleted. Maybe it just took some time to update, or something along those lines?

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        2 days ago

        It’s possible! Due to the size of the folder, it could have taken longer to delete everything from our servers, but I’m glad all is settled now. 

        I’ll be here, if you need something else.

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