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dualice's avatar
dualice
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

Why do shared files count against my space use???

Why are files shared with me counted against my space usage? Is this data counted twice? If someone who is sharing files with me is paying for this space, why should I have to pay as well just to acc...
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  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    3 years ago
    dualice wrote:

    Why are files shared with me counted against my space usage?

    Because the files exist in your account.

     

    When you have access to a shared folder, you're not accessing someone else's folder. You're accessing your own COPY of the folder within your account, and you need to have enough space available to hold that folder.

     

     

    If you just need to view or download files that someone else is sharing with you, ask them to send you a shared link instead. A shared link is a view-only method of sharing and you don't even need a Dropbox account to access it.

JTru's avatar
JTru
New member | Level 2

DropBox says I'm using 1.58 Gb of file space. The drop box folder on Mac OS is empty. I have zero files local on my machine, any files I create for DropBox are online only. I have no backups. (I use a different service). Looking at "all files" shows me the one shared folder I participate in, and nothing else. I don't own it, but I have access. I have removed all "my files" from that shared folder. And the end result is... DB says I'm using 1.58 GB of space, when I have, literally, nothing.

 

Years ago I used DB to share photos, but that was other machines, other versions, long ago, long since (as far as I know) removed.

 

Any suggestions for how to search for ghost files? Or why DB insists I've sucked up 1.5GB of space?

 

TIA for any help.

 

 

Helen DBX's avatar
Helen DBX
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
11 months ago
Hello JTru 
 
Helen from Dropbox here.  Thanks for reaching out about your space usage. 
 
So, this has to do with shared folders.  Someone shared a folder with you, you are a member of the folder and that is added to your Dropbox account. 
 
You can see your shared folders here: 
 
Then, if you want to leave this folder:
  1. Hover over  "..." (ellipsis) beside the folder name
  2. Click ‘Remove from Dropbox’ 
 
In general, if you want to leave a shared folder, follow the steps in this article:
 
I hope this helps. 
 
Best regards, 
Helen 
The Dropbox Team

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