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Forum Discussion

neekfenwick's avatar
neekfenwick
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago

Is it safe to delete dropbox cache old files?

$ dropbox version Dropbox daemon version: 99.4.501 Dropbox command-line interface version: 2019.02.14   I'm running Fedora 32 on my main workstation with a 'normal' Dropbox installation, but a ...
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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    5 years ago

    Hi neekfenwick, thanks for joining the Community!

     

    The cache folder is used as a staging area to sync files to and from your account.

     

    The folder should be automatically cleared every few days, however, you can manually empty the cache folder if it’s getting too large.

    Let me know how it goes!

bomberml's avatar
bomberml
New member | Level 2
4 years ago

Hi, my /.dropbox.cacche./old_files/ directory is 180GB on my laptop. Can I manually delete this entire directory safely, it mainly contains unix files? It has been 5 days since I uploaded anything new to my dropbox and my dropbox says everything is synced. Also some of the files within the  /.dropbox.cacche./old_files/ directory are 5 months old, why aren't they deleting automatically?  

 

Thanks for your help, 

Monica 

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    4 years ago
    Hey bomberml, and welcome to our Community! 

    I've moved you under this thread, since your question seems to echo the one others had. 

    Dropbox keeps a hidden collection, or cache, of your files as backup storage. Files in the cache folder are stored there often after they are moved or deleted after syncing.

    If you can't find your file using all other practical methods, you can try to recover the file from Dropbox cache as a last resort, hence why they remain there.

    You should be able to clear your cache, by deleting content without losing any data.

    Can you try this, and let me know how it goes? 

    Thanks! 
     

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