Start 2025 on time and up to date. Seamlessly integrate your calendars into Dropbox with these simple steps.
Forum Discussion
Incorrect dropbox space usage on windows
Hi Guys,
My local Windows Dropbox is fully synced with my online Dropbox. Windows Explorer file/properties shows my Dropbox folder is 576 MB but to my surprise, dropbox.com and dropbox app both say my dropbox is full. I have checked the plan tab and found my regular file size is 3.4 GB which is not correct. My shared folder only takes less than 100 MB. What is going on here? Why the discrepancy? Any inputs?
Thanks,
Tao
We can confirm that the most recent releases of Dropbox should have resolved this issue. Users affected by this issue were unable to see all of the backups on their account. This meant that when they believe they deleted some or all of their files, there could still be backups taking up space on their account. This should no longer be affecting users who should be able to see all of their backups.
You can find out deleted information on disabling and deleting backups below:
If you disable the backup and choose to "Leave content in Dropbox", your backup content would still be there until it was permanently deleted.
When you go to the Backups page and see no content, be sure to check the deleted section, too.
You can download the files from this location if you need to store them locally on your device.
To clear out the data from the deleted backup, follow these steps:- Navigate to
dropbox.com/backup/all - Click on
Show deleted backups - Select their backup and click on
permanently delete
Some users did not have backups, but they were members of shared folders which were taking up space on their accounts. You can remove shared folders using these instructions.
If you are still experiencing quota issues after following these steps, then confirm that we can reach out to you via email and our support agents will look into this with you.- Navigate to
I have a a total available space of 10.25GB.
although I only had 4GB in my drop box it said it was full...
So I clean everything: deleted all files, removed all sharing (mine or from someone else..): Online or on my PC folder, I have zero file left;
But I use 6.27GB of space....
- Rich
Super User II
GV17190 wrote:
although I only had 4GB in my drop box it said it was full...
Check your Backups page.
YES: solved!
I didn't notice this back-up folder (the content of a USB key was backed up).
The functionnality is helpfull, but does show up clearly on the online dropbox.
u deleted all the files, i made unlink to my devices, i checked my account in the website ans there is no files or backup in no folder, but still got this massage on full storage
- Nancy
Dropbox Staff
Hey maayan2007!
Can you send me a screenshot of what you see here? Also, do you see any files at your All files page?
maayan2007 I found my files by following this link: https://www.dropbox.com/backups/Mac?
No Mac: try this one https://www.dropbox.com/backups/PC
Hi,
I've had a basic plan for a long time with a current limit of 7.75GB and usage up to recently of 6.51GB. In the two weeks the usage increased to 16.49GB for some unknown reason and the message I now get is to delete files or upgrade to 2TB.
I have not added any significant files/folders to my account in a long time, even then most have not exceeded 1MB, the bulk around 100KB.. Also, I constantly monitor my usage and whenever I see that I'm within 1GB of my 7.75GB limit I delete/transfer files/folders from Dropbox.
Any suggestions, advice, comments?
Thank you.
RayLG
- Walter
in the backup? (typically usb stick backup)
https://www.dropbox.com/backup/all
I erased all files in my dropbox in my pc. but appears full in the internet- I do not have shared files or folders
- Walter
Hey Csclaudia, sorry to hear about this.
Can you clarify what exactly is reported in your account's plan tab in regards to your quota?
Also, do you see any files or folders taking up space in your homepage or your backups page perhaps?
Keep me posted!
I am a single user of DB and have been using basic for 15 years. I have 5gb of space, two folders that collectively have 1gb of space used (via properties). I continually get the message that my dropbox is full and it does not sync. I have it linked to three computers so each should have identical files. If you aggregated the space used across each it would not come to 5gb.
I am on the verge of moving all my files to google drive and dumping DB because it no longer syncs. There must be a solution.
Thanks,
Pat
- Walter
Hi there patrickthetroubled, sorry to hear about this.
Can you please let us know what your account's plan tab is reporting in regards to your quota?
Also, do you see any files or folders taking up space on your account's homepage or your backups page perhaps?
Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there, Pat.
Thanks for your suggestions. I did find a 4.1gb backup file that I didn't know existed. Nice catch. I'll see if this gets the sync going again.
Pat
My dropbox keeps telling me that it is full (20 GB) and therefore not syncing. I only had 4 out of 6,75 GB on it but even after I deleted that i still get the same message. I Sat 1 hour with customer service on messenger but they could not work it out.
My dropbox website claims I have exceeded my quota, but when I look at all files, the amount of space I'm actually using is very small. I've looked on the forum and seen similar issues solved by checking for "backup" files and "shared" files but I don't have any of those. I can't figure out why Dropbox is claiming I'm out of storage space and I keep getting popups asking me to upgrade.
- Walter
Hey chosen2945 & Nicklas Boesen, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.
Can you please clarify what is shown in your plan tab in regards to your quota?
Do you see any files or folders taking up space in your homepage or the backups page?
Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there .
same problem here
- I have an issue, I am not a premium member and so only have 2 GB of data. I hit the maximum amount of data a while ago - and despite deleting most of my files, the data hasn’t come back. Does anyone know why this is or if it does come back?
- Mark
The space should come back instantly unless you in a Team which can take up to 8 hours.
However, you will still show out of space until you are below that - so deleting 100,000 files wont change that error if you are still over quota. Another thing to check is if you have set up Backup: www.dropbox.com/backups
Hello!
My Dropbox reports being full, with 2.04 GB (I've got the Basic account), except checking all files visible in Windows Explorer as well as here in my dropbox.com account, it all adds up to just about 800 MB. It apparently started with some kind of fumble on my behalf: I plugged in an extern USB harddrive into my PC, abd I got some sort of message - well, I didn't really take much care of it, because I thought it was from the harddrive. So I can't really reproduce what it said and what I clicked - something about some kind of backup. While I was working with the harddrive I suddenly got the message that my Dropbox was full and that I should upgrade for more memory space.
So, point of the matter is: There are apparently about 1.2 MB of data in my Dropbox which do not appear in any file list, which I absolutely don't need, and also can't get rid of, and block my Dropbox from being used until I manage to do so.
Can someone help me here? How can I delete these 1.2 MB of "invisible" data?
Thanks in advance!
- Rich
Mathias77 wrote:
It apparently started with some kind of fumble on my behalf: I plugged in an extern USB harddrive into my PC, abd I got some sort of message ...
You likely enabled the backup feature. Check your Backups page.
I just found it myself. Just luckily stumbled upon it. There's a Synchronization and Backups tab in the Dropbox dialogue that I can open with a right-click on the Dropbox icon. There is a list of current backups (or probably would be, if it was more than one), and clicking on an entry leads to the file list of the backup. Here I could simply delete all the mistakenly saved files - and everything is great again!
Just being so thorough for the case that it might help another with a similar problem.
Many thanks for the reply. It will help for the future. I figured out how to disable backups, and I will take a closer look into how to actually reach my backup page.
I have Dropbox Basic. I deleted every folder and file in my Dropbox, and Backup is not enabled.
I get on Preferences > Account on the macOS app: "83.0% of 16.9GB used". I get "Using 14.01GB of 16.88GB storage" on the Preferences on the web page.
What I checked:
- App says status is "Your files are up to date".
- www.dropbox.com/home shows no file is present there.
- My dropbox folder on the Mac is empty. Hidden files are just some small files. I also erased the cache folder there, but it was already small (~49MB). No change in space used.
- Backup page shows Size: 0 bytes / Number of files: 0.
Please help!
Emanuele
Why is dropbox saying I am out of space? I am not. Why are the folders in my dropbox empty? Why are the files listed as "waiting to sync"? Waiting for what?
- Mark
