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Forum Discussion
Dropbox full because of shared folder
Hi, i have a dropbox account and the free space that i have is full because of the files inside the shared folder that i have with some friends.
Is there a way to avoid that the shared folder that ...
Your English is very good Michele - well done!
And no, if you need read write access to that folder if will use your quota. If you just need read only access leave the share and ask the other person sends you a read only Shared link.
You can LEAVE and REJOIN a shared folder when ever you like.
So one method of getting space is to LEAVE the shared folder. And REJOIN it when you need it.
If you ONLY need some files from the shared folder and ONLY at some times, I would additionally ask the owner of the shared folder for a LINK to it, in that way you can use the link to it and download via web the files you need when you need them.
Although I don't agree with Dropbox, and this is the primary reason I won't spring for Pro, I understand why they did this.
It's simple, really. Say, someone creates 10 free accounts. 10 x 2GB = 20GB. Now, that person, from each account shares a folder with his main account. That person just got more, free, space.
As much as I like everyone trying to duplicate the presidential campaigns for snarky comments the core issue is really not how DB charges but the way it is being used by people.
I also have been tormented by DB's assumption that everyone wants everything in a shared folder downloaded locally. But the real culprit is the person sending the share. What keeps happening is folks will share a parent folder that has tons of stuff you don't want instead of the child folder that has what they actually need to share with you.
It is unfortunate that DB keeps getting used this way and it's a bit their fault for promoting it in a way that encourages people to use it that way.
I use DB but in the way it is actually designed for, to fully share folders that can be changed on either end. This is really most useful not for team work but for personal sharing among a persons various devices.
One of the reasons it is not good for team work is because of the auto downloading of stuff you don't want but also because deleting while shared will trickle back to other users. It's just really bad for what a lot of people are using it for.
I came here because of the common problem that others are complaining about. A show "shared" a folder with me. I need some parts of that folder but not most of it. But accepting the share fills up my quota and starts downloading gigs of stuff I will have to delete AFTER I un-share, if I remember. I didn't know about the trickle effect a couple of years ago and deleted all the "garbage" that got dumped on my computer. Then I got a frantic phone call because it all disappeared from the drop box.
The result is that to safeguard your data you need to keep two copies locally. One in your drop Box (or reconnecting will start downloading all over again) and one somewhere else so that if someone accidentally deletes a file on their machine your copy won't also disappear. And of course all (what you need and what you don't) gets counted toward your quota.
Fundamentally I don't think it's DB being greedy or "stupid" but their sharing model being used in ways it's not designed for. I personally try hard to dissuade people from using DB for project sharing because of how vulnerable the files become. But IF I have a say at all (not often) at least I get them to be selective in the folders shared so that I don't have to download 5 gigs to get the one text document I need.
