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Forum Discussion
Can I delete photos from my phone after uploading them without deleting them from Dropbox too?
Here's the essence of the problem: I have DropBox Pro installed on an iPhone 5s, iPad Air, MacBook Pro and Windows desktop computer. I do NOT want to clog up my iPhone, iPad and MacBook with files from DropBox. I want to simply upload and then delete them from the mobile devices. I'd like to use automatic Camera Upload but when I delete the photos from my iPhone or iPad I do NOT want them deleted from DropBox...as has happened on numerous occasions (most recently when I exchanged a broken iPhone for a new one and then tried to copy content from one to the other and subsequently delete unwanted photos...on the iPhone, not "unwanted" from my DropBox space). So how do I do a one way sync? Keep in mind that after photos appear in the Camera Upload folder, I MOVE them to a different desired location...and when they're deleted from my iPhone, they are still deleted from the new location!
- No there isnt Frankie, as unfortunately has been said in this thread.
I think what is being asked is:
- Upload Back up images/movies from iPhone or Android to DropBox Cloud
- Remove all copies from both iPhone picture app and from the DropBox app on the phone.
- Still have Photos and Movies on DropBox cloud (and possibly any laptop or desktop machine that is syncing to the overall folder.)
Right now with Dropbox Camera Upload turned on:
- Photo is taken and stored in photo library
- Photo is uploaded to Dropbox but also stored locally in Dropbox app
Thus If you take a 100 MB movie, you end up using 200MB of space on the iPhone, 100MB for the Photo Gallery, and 100MB in the Dropbox App.
Of course, you can then manually delete the 100MB movie from the Photo folder, but that's tedious and we're still left with 100MB used in the DropBox app. If deleted from the DropBox app later by accident, it also removes it from all synced folders. That is ~not~ a backup in my opinion but simply a mirror.
What I think the original poster is asking is: "How to I back up Photos and Videos to Drop Box Cloud, but NOT KEEP ANY local version on the mobile device."Need the feature to purge backed up files that was in carousel.
- Yes! That's what we need!
MariedbDropbox Staff
Hi there!
Just to be clear - once the photos are fully uploaded to Dropbox from the Camera Uploads feature, you will be able to delete them from your phone and they will still be in your Dropbox account.
To do this, you can do a test: manually upload one photo to your Dropbox and then delete it from your phone once it is uploaded:
1) Navigate to the location within your Dropbox where you'd like to upload files
2) Select the ellipsis button (...)
3) Tap the "Add Files" button to select the files to upload. There is also an option to create a new folder.Once it is uploaded and you can see that photo in its location and in the "photos" tab, you can delete it from your phone and you will see that it is not deleted from the Dropbox app.
If you would like to upload all your photos to Dropbox, you can enable Camera Uploads.
he Camera Upload feature is not enabled by default, however you can change the settings for Camera Upload right from the Dropbox app on your iOS device.
- Open the Dropbox app, and select Settings
- Under the Settings heading, select Camera Upload
- You can enable or disable the automatic Camera Upload feature, as well as the option to allow Camera Upload to use cellular data or not. Please note that videos will not be automatically uploaded over cellular data.
I hope this helps!
Hello - I am uploaded a load of files to dropbox and want to delete them off my phone, but some aren't uploading (panoramas and videos) and some are. I would like to know if there is a way for DB to delete the ones which are already uploaded off my phone but of course not the ones which are not. If I do a manual delete all, I will delete the ones which aren't uploaded. I have over 1000 photos - as you can imagine I do not want to manually cross check!
- Mark
Super User II
No there isnt Frankie, as unfortunately has been said in this thread.
- Hi, um, does the same apply to videos? Thanks!
- Jane
Hey Ethan11,
Welcome on the Dropbox Community!
You may keep in mind that, should you use the Camera Uploads functionality to upload your videos, the originals remain on your phone gallery intact, so you'll have to manually remove your videos locally from your phone to free up some space.
I hope this helps you clarify the matter! If you need additional details or assistance, please keep me updated in your reply, I'd be glad to follow-up!
- Rich
Thus If you take a 100 MB movie, you end up using 200MB of space on the iPhone, 100MB for the Photo Gallery, and 100MB in the Dropbox App.
Not true. The Dropbox app on mobile devices does not store files like the regular computer clients do. Yes, it may have a copy of the files for a short time, but this is just a cache. The only files stored permanently on mobile devices are those marked as available offline. Otherwise any files stored locally by the Dropbox app are periodically deleted automatically.
If deleted from the DropBox app later by accident, it also removes it from all synced folders.
The mobile apps show you a list of what is in your entire account; not what is on the device. Delete a file within the app and you're deleting it from your account, everywhere.
Deleting the photo from your Photo Gallery (after it has been uploaded of course) will not delete the copy that was uploaded to Dropbox. The Carousel app (discontinued) had a nice feature that would purge any photos from the gallery that had already been uploaded to Dropbox. It's likely that will be incorporated into the Dropbox client at some point.
The Carousel app (discontinued) had a nice feature that would purge any photos from the gallery that had already been uploaded to Dropbox. It's likely that will be incorporated into the Dropbox client at some point.
PLEASE! this would be such a sensible idea
Why can't you guys just add a feature to delete all photos that were just uploaded? It's really not that hard...
- Would love that carousel clean up feature. Any progress?
That doesn't work.
This works perfectly.
I was able to clear MANY gigs of space off of my iPad, iPhone, and my MacBook Pro Retina using this feature within the Dropbox App on all devices. After I kept them all opened and made sure all syncs were finished, I deleted an unwanted pic from my camera roll. This kept the pic on my dropbox while it was removed from every device I had it located on. The program worked flawlessly. I then deleted every pic from my devices as I only wanted access to them online since my Macbook or iPhone is almost always with me. Now, I'm completely untethered from my local internal and external storage. Perfect solution for the supply and demand I was needing so desperately.
Hi I am new to Dropbox & I have downloaded all my photos into my Dropbox on my PC & now I am wanting to delete the photos off my iPhone & iPad what I want to know is will I lose them from my Dropbox on my PC if I delete them off my mobile devices please help
Elizabeth R.22 wrote:
Hi I am new to Dropbox & I have downloaded all my photos into my Dropbox on my PC & now I am wanting to delete the photos off my iPhone & iPad what I want to know is will I lose them from my Dropbox on my PC if I delete them off my mobile devices please help
As I understand this issue and the conflicting reports I see, one must distinguish between copied files and synced folders. If you delete a file from a synced folder, you delete it from Dropbox, and consequently from all of your synced devices; but if you delete a file you copied to Dropbox that is not in a synced Dropbox folder, there is no link between your local copy and the Dropbox copy, so the file remains in Dropbox.
To use dropbox to clear files from your phone:
1) Select the files,
2) Select "Cut,"
3) Select a Dropbox folder, and
4) Select "Paste." (Copy and paste works also, but you will duplicate the files, using twice as much space. )
5) Make sure the files have been synced to Dropbox.
6) Make sure the files are no longer in the original location.
7) DO NOT DELETE FILES FROM THE SYNCED FOLDER, but
8) Clear the Dropbox cache to free up space on your phone.
We REALLY need the old carrousel feature ... Do you know of Google or Microsoft have a solution that can do this ? I've always been loyal to DB, but without this it doesn't make sens as picture syncing tool...
this doesn't work for me. if I delete photos from my samsung smartphone then they immediately get deleted from the dropbox folder on my pc. I'd like to be able to free up space on my smartphone but keep the photos in Dropbox folder on other devices
This dropbox app is killing me. I bought it to back up my pictures and videos. It is using up all 128 gigs of my memory! I didn't see any solutions to the original question and it appears there are no settings on dropbox website or in app to offload these pics from my phone to free up space and store them in the cloud, which it sounds like is what everyone is trying to do. Wake up dropbox! give us a solution that works without complication.
