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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 uses the free space of my account without cancelling those folder?
Because i have no more space and i haven't uploaded any files
Excuse me for my english but i found problem on trying to traduce this message from my language
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.
Just one other thing .... if the files are not created by my account but by someone else who shared THEIR files with me ... why should it count toward my 2 gb of space. It should only be applied to the original user account who created the file.
Thank you for providing this forum to express our frustration to this. But I think we can do this without being emotional and being angry. Through this forum, I believe that people would like to be able to come up with solutions or alternate work around ways to the problems that are posted. Just like Dropbox does state the facts in their FAQ if we search for it. So they have done their legal duty. It doesn't make sense that it is not posted up front ... which is the frustration that most people are expressing .... but again let's find ways to work with it until dropbox or another application comes up with a way to eliminate this particular problem.
We chose to leave the shared folder and rejoin it on an email address that we created just to access this folder when we need it. Which is the answer to my question that I began with.
So let's try to treat others with how we want to be treated when we respond to each others posts.
I'll chime in on this with a slightly different, but related problem:
I have a Dropbox Pro account (so yes I paid for the 1TB upgrade) with Packrat Addon (also paid) and I have laptop, and an insecure Windows desktop machine. The Windows desktop is insecure because it's where I allow outsiders to test out my apps ... so a malicious trial user could easily compromise the Windows desktop machine.
So now what I want to do is to sync some folders of my Dropbox with the insecure machine. Support says the only way to do that is to create a new free account and share the folder with the new free account. Problem is, the folder is 3GB, so the free account immediately ran out of storage.
So now I have two options:
1. Use a different service to synchronize my 3GB folder with the insecure machine. (hint: Google Drive)
2. Pay for Dropbox Pro twice, once for my main account that I use on the laptop and once for my second account that I use on the insecure machine.
To me, having to pay twice as much as before just to setup a second access-restricted login to my data seems ridiculously overpriced. It's not like I'm collaborating with anyone.. I just want Dropbox to synchronize between my computers in a halfway secure fashion.
Of course, for my use case it would also be good enough if Dropbox would introduce a method for me to create additional access-restricted login credentials whose storage counts towards the quota of my paid main account.
But no matter how they intend to fix it .. for me, it's obviously a huge disappointment that Dropbox doesn't actually support safe synchronization. They do support synchronization, but if one machine is stolen, your Dropbox could be taken over. And they do support separation of rights, by creating new accounts.. but sadly, they don't support safe and synchronization at the same time.
BTW, Google Drive doesn't count shared folders towards the recipient's storage limit.
I agree it is very annoying how the shared folders count to everyone's quota.
Once my 12 month subscription is over with dropbox, i will be moving to Google drive - pricing is the same, but service is much better.
Dropbox it's a useful sync application/service.
I think this is about right although I question how useful. don't use it as a collaborative file share common directory sort of thing because it is crap. Big advice never use this as a shared folder with other people. The web interface is rubbish. There are no tools for managing the amount of files you have in dropbox. they expect to keep you in the dark so you buy more space. I have to admit, other than the clunky useless web interface most of my problems came from file sharing but I did get this to collaborate as my main reason so it has let me down big time.
I wouldn't recommend it.
All the technical justifications for and against the Dropbox commercial model are interesting, but ultimately what matters is customer journey/experience.
Dropbox have made it difficult for a lot of users, where Google haven't. The "shared folders taking up space" issue is just one.
It's such a shame as I would love to support Dropbox, but just can't when my experience around this issue is much better with Google.
What a racket, I hope Google Drive and other services put you out of business.
If Dropbox is going to double charge, triple charge, quadruple charge, they should charge much less per MB.
One problem is that there is no control on the usage of the purchased space. Many people don't count the bytes too well, and many people can't keep track of what's in their folders. We all have friends like that. Some of us are like that, at least sometimes. They share a folder with many people and then upload hundreds of megabytes of files that are irrelevant to a majority of the shared people. It's the convenient thing to do. But unknowingly, they are all counted as fee for all of the shared friends.
I should be charged only on the space I actually use, manageable by me. I don't want to inadvertently charge my friends' accounts because Dropbox double, triple, quadruple charge.
Instead, Dropbox uses a dishonest and sleazy way to over-charge.
Dropbox is NOT suitable for sharing files.
It's irritating me, too. I feel like I've been taken for a ride - deceived. I just wanted to share photos and videos with people but I can't, so that sucks. Bye
If I am correct you don't have to install that desktop client to make dropbox working for you. Files are really stored in centralized Dropbox's servers. However, I believe the problem still exists about the shared quota issue in this situation.
I guess those understand the problem will realize it is not a database or traffic issue. It just makes no sense about what sharing means to common non-tech people.
"But that's not what you're doing. You're uploading the files to a folder in your account, which happens to be shared with another account. The data you upload is still in your account."
I think the semantics of "my account" here are what bug me. The way I see it, a shared folder should be just that. If what you imply is true and Dropbox literally has 100 copies of the same data on their server if I share a folder to 100 people, then they have a fundamental flaw in their backend. This is not a flaw I'm willing to foot the bill on.
"Then ask them to send you a file request (for upload) or a share link (for download)."
I'll admit I've never heard of the file requests. But correct me if I'm wrong don't both of these only work with single files at a time? They just shared to me a folder with 1200 DPX frames in it. I'd hate them to have to zip everything they want to send (thus adding another copy of the data against their quota). Even if this isn't the case this is still a miserable way to handle a shared folder. And the fact that it's possible shows that non-duplicated sharing is possible on Dropbox's end and they just don't allow us to use it with any ease.
Shared folders have always counted against your quota.
I have no proof the contrary, but I'm certain this is not the case. I used to use Dropbox extensively about 6 years ago and I never ran into a quota limit even with large folders shared to me, and this was back when the free accounts had way less space. I recall noticing when it changed, and being just as annoyed then as now. I remember this was slightly before business accounts were a thing. But recall being flawed as it is I'll concede that I don't know for sure.
"The more data you transfer, the more it costs Dropbox, and you, as a Basic user, pay nothing towards that usage."
I agreed on this point. But with the double dipping on costs for storage I see no reason Dropbox can't handle this the way their competitors do. Google Drive has never charged for folder storage space shared to you, and you can sync that however you want. This is precisely the reason I choose to pay Google for my cloud storage and stay a Free user on Dropbox. I'd not be a user of dropbox at all if I had the choice, but sadly editors still frequently send me footage from them.
The bandwidth issue is the only logical reason I can see, apart from a flawed backend maybe, to charge in multiples for storage already paid for. And if that's their reason then I'd prefer transparency on that. I'd be willing to pay a "Sync fee" or something, as silly as that is.